Punjab & Haryana High Court Stays Probe Against Journalists Over Posts On Punjab CM's Helicopter

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed till next date, further investigation against law student, journalists and media professionals for publishing a news story relating to helicopter movements allegedly linked to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann.

Justice Vinod S. Bhardwaj also issued notice on the petition filed by the accused, seeking to quash the FIR. The bench said,

"Right of reporting as a part of journalistic freedom of speech and expression has arisen much often for consideration before Courts. Much often, criticism and satire is hardly cherished by people holding public office and at some times, the reactions come forth by way of cyber-bullying, sullying or even silencing the critique and criticism."

The Court added that, "Merely because a person holding a public office feels offended may not be the yardstick on which State action is to be measured. It would also not be influenced by the projections sought to be portrayed by State. The yardstick always has to be that of ordinary prudence and a direct nexus. A remote possibility of some reaction or motivated artificial inflammation of sentiments or such display shall hold such person liable for such action and the criminal liability would not trickle to the authors."

Media Should Adhere To Ethics Of Journalism

Adding a word of caution, the bench said, "While this Court does feel that social media influences and print/visual media should adhere to the ethics of journalism reflecting commitment to truth, accuracy and independent, impartial reporting and not an unfair, motivational and spread of propaganda, however, the said aspect is yet to be determined."

According to the plea, the petitioner had filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005, seeking details of expenditure incurred by the Punjab Government on chartering or hiring jets, aeroplanes and helicopters since March 2022. The information sought included dates of travel, destinations and names of persons who undertook such travel.

The RTI application was rejected by the authorities by invoking Section 24 of the RTI Act, citing security concerns of dignitaries.

The petitioners contended that the information sought did not fall within the exempted category under Section 24 and, in any case, similar information regarding helicopter movements is already available in the public domain through the website “FlightRadar24”, which provides flight-tracking data accessible to the general public.

It was further stated that upon noticing multiple helicopter flights in December 2025, during a period when the Chief Minister of Punjab was allegedly out of the country, a news story was published on a journalistic platform detailing these flights from 01.12.2025 onwards. The impugned FIR was subsequently registered based on this publication.

The FIR alleges that the petitioners published “distorted, unverified and patently incorrect assertions” based on erroneous interpretation of flight-tracking data, thereby creating a misleading narrative suggesting unauthorized or suspicious use of a helicopter linked to the Chief Minister.

It is alleged that the content amounted to deliberate dissemination of misinformation and disinformation, capable of misleading the public, eroding confidence in constitutional authorities, disturbing public order and affecting administrative harmony in the sensitive border state of Punjab.

On this basis, offences under Sections 353(1), 353(2) and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 were invoked.

Senior counsel for the petitioners R.S Bains argued that the essential ingredients of offences under Section 353 BNS are not made out and the publication was based on information already available in the public domain.

Counsel appearing State Ad. AG Senior Advocate Chanchal Singla submitted that the petitioner had uploaded inflammatory material and had carried a story which had the potential to disturb public tranquillity, hence, the registration of the FIR was justified. Counsel referred to certain screenshots of the material uploaded by the petitioner and prayed that he be permitted to place on record additional relevant material, which would prima facie disclose the ingredients of the offences for which the FIR has been registered.

He further contended that the FIR is still at a nascent stage and hence, further investigation be allowed to be continued at this juncture and be not stayed.

Observing that issues pertaining to existence of ingredients for prima facie commission of offence are required to be demonstrated, the Court stayed further investigation.

Title: Manik Goyal v. State of Punjab & Anr

Mr. R.S. Bains, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Loveneet Thakur, Advocate;

Mr. Sarabjot Singh Cheema, Advocate for the petitioner(s).

Mr. Chanchal Kumar Singla, Addl. A.G. Punjab with Ms. Ravinder Kaur, Advocate and Mr. Rahul Aryan, Advocate.

Click here to read order