Jammu, June 29 -- A local court of sub judge/special mobile magistrate in Poonch headed by judge Shafeeq Ahmed has directed the SHO of police station, Poonch to register a formal FIR under Sections 353(2), 356 and 196(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) with Section 66 of the Information Technology Act against two national news channels for their defamatory and false reporting during Operation Sindoor. The court has further directed the police to undertake a fair, impartial and time-bound investigation into the matter and SHO, Poonch has further been directed to file a compliance report within seven days of receipt of this order. The court also directed that a copy of this order be sent to the senior superintendent of police, Poonch for supervisory compliance. These directions of wide public importance were issued in an application filed by a renowned advocate of Poonch Sheikh Mohd Saleem seeking registration of FIR against certain news anchors and editorial personnel of two national news for allegedly committing cognizable offences under BNS. Saleem contended that on May 7 one Qari Mohd Iqbal a cleric and a social activist at Jamia Zia-ul-Uloom, Poonch and resident of Qazi Mohra, Poonch, were killed along with other civilians during intense cross-border shelling by Pakistan in the Poonch sector. However, the two news channels without verification branded the deceased cleric as a "Pakistani terrorist" affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba thereby defaming the deceased causing distress to his family and also damaged the reputation of the deceased as well as hurt the religious sentiments of the community. On receipt of the application, the sub-judge/special mobile magistrate, Poonch sought a report from the SHO P/S Poonch and in his report, the SHO confirmed that on 07-05-2025, due to shelling from across the border, there was considerable loss to the property and lives including the death of the deceased Qari Mohd Iqbal. It was also acknowledged in the police report that the two news channels had initially aired information stating that the deceased Qari Mohd Iqbal was a "Pakistani terrorist". However, the SHO noted that after receiving clarification inputs, the two channels withdrew their earlier assertions and issued an apology. The SHO further stated that no complaint was received from the family of the deceased teacher, hence no FIR was registered in that specific context. It was also noted in the said report that a general FIR No. 75/2025 had already been registered regarding the shelling incidents under Sections 103, 109, 324(5), 3(5) BNS and 7/25 Arms Act....