new delhi taking a cue from the order stopping telecast of a tv programme on the ground that it was insidious towards a community the himachal pradesh government on wednesday opposed journalist viond duas petition in supreme court seeking quashing of an fir lodged against him for allegedly causing panic during covid through a false narrativethe hp government through solicitor general tuhar mehta told a bench headed by justice u u lalit that journalistic freedom of expression should be accorded highest status and ought not to be curtailed without valid reasons an argument which he had advanced even on tuesday before a bench headed by justice d y chandrachud which restrained telecast of a serialised programme called bindas bolhowever he pitched before the court for a distinction between bona fide journalistic freedom of expression and an attempt to create panic or to instigate riots during the delicate period of a disaster in the nature of a pandemic mehta said the proliferation of fake and false news during the pandemic whether designed or not causing distress to the public has been rightly taken note of even by the who labelling it as infodemic reading the transcript of the vinod dua show which led to registration of the fir mehta projected how an attempt was made to instigate people or to instil irrational fears in the minds of the viewers on the basis of unverified facts he said that time has proven that no such food riots as contemplated by the journalist ever took place thereby confirming that there was no basis for the journalist to make the said statement