# Allahabad HC rejects News18 reporter’s plea for FIR, calls incident fake 2026-08-22T05:15:45+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a petition by News18 reporter Amit Kumar Srivastava seeking registration of an FIR over an alleged attempt on his life. The court, in an August 12 order, noted the police investigation found the shooting incident near Prayagraj's Jhusi area on August 1, 2025, was fabricated. CCTV footage and forensic analysis of bullet marks on his vehicle contradicted his account, the state told the court. Barandbench.com reports that the court observed Srivastava's allegations were false and made to obtain police security cover. The bench of Justices Chandra Dhari Singh and Tarun Saxena said the petition was not maintainable as Srivastava had not availed the remedy under the BNSS before approaching the high court. The court expressed concern over litigants directly invoking Article 226 for FIR registration without exhausting statutory remedies. Separately, journalist Abhishek Upadhyay has moved the Supreme Court seeking quashing of a Ghaziabad FIR in an alleged road rage case. Telanganatoday.com reports Upadhyay claims the case is fabricated to harass him for his reporting on alleged irregularities in donations to the Ayodhya Ram temple. He has sought a probe by Delhi police or the CBI, saying he fears arrest and physical harm. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both sources report the facts neutrally, but their framing differs: barandbench.com focuses on the court's legal reasoning and the police findings of a fabricated incident, while telanganatoday.com leads with the journalist's corruption allegation. The court's observation that the petition was an abuse of process is the key takeaway. Readers should note the high court's explicit warning about the growing trend of bypassing statutory remedies, which is a procedural development worth watching for future cases. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - barandbench.com (neutral report) Straight reporting of court order and police findings, no editorial slant. - telanganatoday.com (neutral report) Leads with journalist's claim of fabricated case, but reports facts neutrally. This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-23T23:00:40+00:00. Tags: Allahabad High Court, Amit Kumar Srivastava, Atiq Ahmad, BNSS, News18, Prayagraj Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/allahabad-hc-rejects-news18-reporters-plea-for-fir-over-fake-attack/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/allahabad-hc-rejects-news18-reporters-plea-for-fir-over-fake-attack/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/