Uttar Pradesh police have allowed the editor of online portal The Wire to respond on email after a police team drove all the way from Ayodhya in the middle of the lockdown to his Delhi residence to serve a summons.

A complaint had alleged that Siddharth Varadarajan, The Wire editor, had made an objectionable remark about Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BJP leader Yogi Adityanath. Varadarajan had clarified he had wrongly attributed a comment made by Acharya Paramhans to the chief minister, and the correction was carried out in the article.

On Monday, Varadarajan tweeted: “After sending 6-7 cops on Apr 10 in an unmarked car to order my presence in Ayodhya on Apr 14, the IO called y’day & offered to accept my ‘bayaan’ by email — ‘because lockdown is on’! I was planning to email a response anyway — and have — but as there’s no receipt, I’m posting it here.”

In his response, Varadarajan pointed out that India is in the midst of a nationwide lockout with a ban on inter-state movement and “accordingly, there can be no question of my appearing in Ayodhya at 10 a.m. on April 14, 2020, as directed by you”.

He cited an official circular by the chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh on April 24, 2017, (pursuant to an order of the Allahabad High Court) that “the accused may record his statement via email or Speed Post and the same will be received, taken into consideration and needful will be done in respect of those by the IO (investigating officer) in such cases”.

Varadarajan has sought a copy of the FIR, and details of the specific act he is accused of and how it involves disobedience of any order of a public servant, creates or promotes enmity/ill-will between classes, transmission of obscene material and cheating by impersonation using computer source.