The Bombay HC on Thursday quashed the FIR registered against The Quint’s Associate Editor Poonam Agarwal and Kargil war veteran Deepchand Singh, both of whom were charged with spying under the Official Secrets Act and abatement of suicide of a jawan who was interviewed by Agarwal in a sting video back in 2017.

The bench, comprising Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre, heard arguments on the case on Thursday after an intervention application by the army and said that there was no substance in the matter. On April 3 this year, the judges had viewed the raw footage of the video and the edited video that had been published on the news site. During the hearing on Thursday, the judges asked the Army lawyer, Sandesh Patil, “Why are you so vindictive?”  to which he had no answer, reported Free Speech Collective.

Agarwal had conducted the sting operation with the assistance of Singh to show that the “sahayak system” of engaging subordinate officers for “menial work for seniors was being followed in army camps—despite being banned by the army as per a circular dated January 19, 2017.

Her story was published on February 24 after conducting the sting wherein she had interviewed five persons on the pernicious sahayak system. However, after the story was published, one of the persons she interviewed—Gunner Roy Mathew—was found dead in his barracks. According to Free speech Collective, “there was no clarity forthcoming as to when and how he died as his body was found in a highly decomposed condition…” Following this, an FIR was registered for abetment of suicide against Poonam Agarwal and Deepchand for offences punishable under Sections 306,451, 500 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Offences punishable under Sections 3 and 7 of the Official Secrets Act were also included in the FIR, reported Live Law.

Amid furore, The Quint took down the story on March 3, 2017, following which Agarwal was subjected to “intense pressure to disclose her source.” She had to submit the raw footage of her video to the police, through which they managed to secure the identity of her source—Kargil war veteran and a triple amputee Deepchand Singh.

Agarwal told Free speech Collective that she was extremely relieved at the decision and that even though she continued with her work, the case haunted her and took its toll, both, professionally as well as emotionally. Deepchand also had to suffer and could not even secure any employment. As it is, he was a war veteran, disabled during duty in the Kargil war, but had found the going tough after the case filed against them. As for Mathew’s family, there is still no closure.