New Delhi: The Supreme Court has prioritized at least six petitions filed by Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami in the past nine months, while many citizens languish in jails, waiting weeks and months for a hearing. Demonstrating just how efficient the high court could be, it heard and resolved most of Goswami’s petitions within a week or, in some cases, the next day.
Goswami moved to the Supreme Court on April 23, 2020, challenging multiple FIRs for their alleged remarks against Congress President Sonia Gandhi on her channel. The case was put on the list the next day and dropped. In this case, a complaint was filed against the founder of Republic TV after he accused Gandhi of orchestrating the lynching of Palghar in Maharashtra. However, the court headed by Judge DY Chandrachud granted three weeks of protection against Goswami’s arrest.
In another case, ARG Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd. (which runs Republic TV) and Arnab Goswami moved the supreme court on October 10, 2020 for the alleged TV Rating Point (TRP) manipulation scam. This case was heard on October 15, 2020 and was resolved. Mumbai police had alleged that Republic TV was creating obstacles in the investigation process and that the case could not be transferred to the CBI at this time. The high court refused to consider Goswami’s statement and asked him to change the Bombay high court.
The Supreme Court on Thursday (December 17, 2020) resolved another petition from ARG Outlier Media – filed on November 6, 2020 – challenging an FIR registered by the Mumbai police against its editors and reporters for allegedly trying to cause “disaffection” among police personnel. The court headed by Chief Justice Bobde asked the petitioners to address the Bombay High Court.
A petition challenging an FIR against Goswami in the 2018 suicide complicity case was also included on the list and removed by the high court within a month.
However, it is surprising how the pace of the Supreme Court hearing pleas other than Goswami’s does not show much efficiency. The president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Dushyant Dave, wrote a letter last month to the secretary general of the supreme court to protest the “special treatment” given to Goswami. Dushyant questioned how the journalist’s bail statement appears on the list “instantly” every time he is moved to superior court.
Among the many activists, journalists, and academics, who have fought for a Supreme Court hearing is journalist Siddique Kappan. He was arrested on 5 October by the Uttar Pradesh police for alleged criminal conspiracy in the wake of the Hathras gang rape incident. Kappan has been in the Mathura jail in unsatisfactory conditions and was not allowed to meet with his lawyer for a long time.
.
