No exemption for TV anchor Arnab Goswami, Bombay HC asks him to appear before police

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, June 9

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The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to exempt television anchor Arnab Goswami from appearing before the city police, where a case has been filed against him for allegedly creating hatred between two communities.

Judges Ujjal Bhuyan and Riyaz Chagla while hearing Goswami’s petition seeking to quash the FIRs filed against him asked the Editor-in-Chief of Republic Television to appear before the police on Wednesday.

While Goswami’s lawyer Harish Salve sought the quashing of the FIRs against him, Kapil Sibal appearing for the Maharashtra government argued that it was necessary for the police to interrogate the journalist.

Two First Information Reports (FIRs) have been registered against Goswami in Nagpur and Mumbai for allegedly making provocative comments against the Muslim community during a show on the gathering of migrant workers outside the Bandra railway terminus during the countrywide lockdown.

Goswami has been summoned by the Pydhonie police station at 11 am on Wednesday.

One of the complainants in the case, Irfan Abubakar Shaikh, secretary, Raza Education Welfare Society alleged that Goswami had targetted the mosque outside Bandra railway station even though it had no links to the migrant workers who were protesting to be sent home by train.

Shaikh had alleged that Goswami intended to blame the Muslim community for the spread of the Covid-19 virus in Mumbai.

The FIR has been registered under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, and language), 295A (deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any citizen) 500 (defamation), 505 (2) (spreading rumour or alarming news with intent to create or promote feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).