Breaking: Bombay HC Stays FIRs Against Arnab Goswami; Says 'No Prima Facie Case Against Him' [Read Order]

[Story updated with order]The Bombay High Court on Tuesday while granting relief to Republic TV Chief Arnab Goswami observed that "we cannot have a damocles sword hanging over the head of a journalist while conducting a public debate". Court suspended proceedings in two FIRs filed against Arnab Goswami for allegedly communalizing the coverage of Palghar mob lynching incident and the incident regarding gathering of migrants outside Bandra station during lockdown.A division bench of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Riyaz Chagla observed "prima facie no case was made out against him".The bench ordered that no coercive action should be taken against him. The bench had reserved orders on the petitions on June 12.Arnab Goswami was booked under Sections 153, 153 A, 153 B, 295 A, 298, 500, 504, 505(2), 506, 120 B and 117 of the Indian Penal Code.Reasoning of the benchAt the outset, the bench examined the allegations regarding the show telecast on Republic TV in relation to the Palghar mob lynching incident and said- "Prima facie, it appears that petitioner as a media journalist had questioned the response or rather the alleged non-response of the Congress party and its President Smt. Sonia Gandhi to the killing of two Hindu saints juxtaposing this with the question as to whether the Congress party or Smt. Sonia Gandhi would have kept quiet if any Maulvi or Padri was killed. Thereafter the petitioner made allegations against the foreign origin of Smt. Sonia Gandhi. It is quite clear that the object of or the target of the petitioner's attack was primarily Smt. Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party. There was no mentioning of either the Muslim community or the Christian community. It would be too far fetched to say that two religious communities were involved in the debate. As a matter of fact, there was no reference to the Muslim community or to the Christian community." Moreover, Court noted that the debate centered around a very sensitive subject i.e., killing of two Hindu Sadhus- "Petitioner had highlighted the fact that this killing had taken place in a state where the Congress party was part of the ruling dispensation.The crux of his questioning or statements was relating to the response of the Congress party in general and its President Smt. Sonia Gandhi in particular to the unfortunate incident. What is deducible is that the petitioner had accused the Congress party and its President of having a communal mindset, of being communal in their response or rather in their silence vis-a-vis the unfortunate incident. However, if the transcript together with the first information are read as a whole, we do not find any statement made by the petitioner which can be construed to be against the Muslim community or Christian community." Court concluded that in such circumstances, it cannot be said that any offence has been committed by the petitioner of provoking rioting or promoting or attempting to promote, on the grounds of religion, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious groups which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious groups or which disturbs or is likely to disturb public tranquility, thus prejudicial to national integrity. The bench reasoned- "Neither any statement nor the conduct of the petitioner can be said to have been made deliberately and with malicious intention to outrage the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India or insulting any religion or religious beliefs of that class of citizens. A view may be taken that the language of the petitioner was quite sharp and vicious; it may also be construed as an act of defaming the Congress party or its President. But as pointed out by the Supreme Court, the offence of criminal defamation would be excluded from the purview of investigation of the present FIR because the said offence can only be taken cognizance of by a Magistrate on a complaint, that too, instituted by the person aggrieved." Furthermore, Court said that it cannot also be overlooked that the present FIR was part of multifarious FIRs/complaints lodged by Congress party members and supporters in diverse jurisdictions, all total 15, relating to one and the same incident i.e., broadcast by the petitioner on April 21 on Republic Bharat. Referring to Sibal's contention that Arnab had questioned why gathering of migrants took place outside a Masjid, even though they gathered outside Bandra station, Court said that Arnab had already clarified this statement on the show wherein he said that there was no question of targeting any community. "It was a fact that the incident had taken place outside the Jama Masjid but there was no question of any religion. He further clarified by saying that if the same incident had happened outside the Siddhivinayak temple or any other temple, he would have said the same thing and asked the panelists not to bring religion in every issue", ...

Breaking: Bombay HC Stays FIRs Against Arnab Goswami; Says 'No Prima Facie Case Against Him' [Read Order]

Nitish Kashyap

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