The Supreme Court protected journalist Abhishek Upadhyay and quashed the police notice seeking his X data. The ruling questioned disproportionate data collection and opened the door for broader safeguards.
Stock photo used for illustration
Newdelhi,Oct 14, 2026 15:48 IST
The Supreme Court on Wednesday confirmed its earlier order protecting journalist Abhishek Upadhyay from coercive action in a road rage case registered in Ghaziabad. Upadhyay had reported alleged irregularities in the handling of donations at Ayodhya's Ram temple.
The court also quashed an August 22 notice issued by the Ghaziabad Police to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, seeking information and digital details about the journalist. It allowed Upadhyay to challenge the FIR before the jurisdictional high court.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi noted that a copy of the FIR had been provided to Upadhyay and made its interim protection order absolute.
The bench examined an affidavit filed by the Ghaziabad Commissioner of Police. The affidavit said the notice was issued to X's nodal officer for the limited purpose of tracing Upadhyay, who was untraceable after the FIR was registered in August.
Senior advocate Pradeep Rai, appearing for Upadhyay, said that although the FIR was lodged in August, the police had sought information from X dating back to June 1.
“You have given them notice to provide data from three months ago. That appears to be an overkill,” the bench told the counsel representing Uttar Pradesh.
The court said the police could not obtain Upadhyay's confidential or personal data for any period before the alleged crime. “The notice dated August 22 issued by the police to X is hereby quashed,” it said.
The bench also allowed Upadhyay to approach the court for mandatory guidelines on the collection of personal data by the police during investigations.
On August 25, the Supreme Court had protected Upadhyay from coercive action and directed that he be given a copy of the FIR registered at Indirapuram in Ghaziabad.
In his petition, Upadhyay alleged that the FIR copy had not been provided to him and that the police were forcing nearby shopkeepers to delete CCTV footage from the relevant period. He claimed the case was filed in connection with his reporting on alleged corruption in Uttar Pradesh.
The Supreme Court has now continued Upadhyay's protection, quashed the police notice seeking his data from X and left him free to challenge the FIR before the appropriate high court.
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