Supreme Court agrees to early hearing of journalist Abhishek Upadhyay’s plea against FIR

The Supreme Court on Monday (August 24, 2026) agreed to hear early a plea by Abhishek Upadhyay, an independent journalist who flagged alleged irregularities in the handling of donations at Ayodhya’s Ram temple, challenging an FIR lodged against him by Ghaziabad Police in an alleged road rage case.

Appearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Mr. Upadhyay’s counsel submitted that his client was being accused by the police of other serious offences, including under the Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The CJI asked the lawyer to provide the details of the case, and said he would consider the listing it on August 25.

The plea by journalist Abhishek Upadhyay claimed that the FIR was based on concocted allegations against him and was an attempt to harass him for his independent journalistic works.

In the plea, he has contended that the FIR copy has not been supplied to him and that the police were forcing nearby shopkeepers to delete the CCTV visuals of the relevant time.