New Delhi, April 4 -- The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to respond to a plea seeking the quashing of criminal proceedings against journalist Mamta Tripathi in a defamation case related to a published news article.

A bench comprising Justices MM Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal also extended the interim protection granted to Tripathi, preventing state authorities from taking any coercive action against her.

The bench also took a dim view of the criminal charges for which the journalist had been booked. It questioned how the private defamation complaint against the journalist has been made into a cognisable offence by the state authorities.

Thus, the top court sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh government ...