Former Assistant Police Commissioner Iqbal Shaikh has filed a civil case to prevent Republic TV and its editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami from broadcasting any material related to the TV rating points scam. Living law reported Tuesday. Mumbai police have accused Republic TV, along with Box Cinema and the Marathi channel Fakt Marathi, of manipulating the TRPs.
Shaikh has also requested Rs 5 lakh as damages, saying that the published “defamatory reports” against the Mumbai police have resulted in his mental agony. The statement, filed through lawyer Abha Singh, said that Republic TV and its Hindi news channel Republic Bharat have engaged in a “smear campaign” against the Mumbai police.
The statement also alleged that the defendant, Arnab Goswami, could not “be granted the freedom to discuss his own case and arbitrate it on his own television channels defamatory of the Mumbai police” when an investigation was underway.
Shaikh alleged that Goswami was conducting debates and passing on stories that could influence the investigation, according to the Hindustan Times. “Plaintiff contends that Defendant No. 1 has transgressed his limits as the owner of the two most popular television channels and has begun to pursue his own agenda by being the Editor-in-Chief and delivering lengthy sermons on his own case, which is under investigation. by a legal body, ”the statement said.
Shaikh also alleged that Republic TV was trying to tear down the investigation by launching a smear campaign against the Mumbai police, citing statements that Goswami used against the head of the force, Param Bir Singh.
He also said that Goswami is the owner and director of the company that runs the news channels, its editor-in-chief and the main presenter of the discussions. The lawsuit argued that this was in “open disregard” of the Indian Press Council guidelines, which state that the owner / address has to be other than the publisher.
The case will go to hearing on October 21.
The TRP row
A bogus TRP scam was discovered in early October when the Broadcast Audience Research Council filed a complaint through the Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain television channels were tampering with TRP numbers. Hansa Research is one of BARC’s suppliers for panel houses or “people meters”. Republic TV, Box Cinema and the Marathi channel Fakt Marathi were charged with tampering with TRP during the preliminary investigation.
Last week, the Broadcast Audience Research Council decided to pause weekly ratings on news channels for three months and review its measurement system, amid a dispute over alleged TRP manipulation.
On October 14, Republic TV Executive Editor Niranjan Narayanaswamy and Senior Executive Editor Abhishek Kapoor appeared before the Criminal Branch of the Mumbai Police to record their statements in the case.
The Mumbai Crime Department said on October 12 that they had arrested a former Hansa Research employee named Vinay Tripathi from Uttar Pradesh. Officials said he played a key role in the scam and had paid another defendant to manipulate the ratings. The police also recorded the statements of two senior Hansa Research officials.
The police also arrested the owners of Box Cinema and the Marathi channel Fakt Marathi, Shirish Shetty and Narayan Sharma.
Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani appeared before Mumbai for questioning on October 11. The television channel’s chief financial officer, Shiva Subramaniyam Sundaram, was supposed to appear before the police the day before, but asked for a rescheduling citing commitments.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and a parliamentary panel on information technology have noted that the PRT’s measures are out of step with current technologies. They also observed that the English news space, due to its tiny size, is particularly susceptible to manipulation.
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