Over 100 FIRs against Arnab Goswami, Supreme Court Grants 3 Week Interim Protection

New Delhi, April 24, 2020:

The Supreme Court of India on Friday granted three weeks protection from arrest to Arnab Goswami, the controversial founder of Republic TV on the basis of FIRs filed against him in states of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Jammu & Kashmir.

A bench comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah said that "no coercive actions" will be taken against Goswami for 3 weeks from today.

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"Court intends to protect the petitioner for a period of Three weeks form today and

permit him to move anticipatory bail application before the trial court or high court. For

a period of two weeks, the petitioner shall be protected against any coercive steps in

relation to the FIRs arising out of the telecast which took place on April 21",

"Save and except for FIR registered at Nagpur, (FIR number 238 of 2020 dated April 22,

2020 registered at Nagpur, further proceedings arising out of and relating to FIRs and

complaints listed out petition shall remain stayed until further orders."

The Bench also held that if there is any other FIRs led thereafter, (arising out of or

related to present cause of action) shall also remain stayed till further orders.

It may be mentioned here that over 100 FIRs have been filed against Goswami for his incendiary statements on the Palghar lynching incident and remarks on Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi whom he has blamed for the incident.

Later, aggrieved against the registration of the 100 FIRs against him, the Republic TV editor-in-chief moved the Supreme Court of India.

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Meanwhile, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state of Maharashtra claimed that Goswami, during the show, has "communalized the Palghar lynching incident, and made vicious and tarnishing comments against Congress President Sonia Gandhi.."

He asserted that offences were clearly made out in the FIRs, and hence they could not be

clubbed under an omnibus petition led under Article 32.

Yesterday, Goswami claimed that “Congress goons” had tried to break the windshield of his car, allegedly in a bid to attack him, while his wife was with him. Earlier this week, the Republic tv chief made the headlines when he quit the Editors’ Guild of India on live television, for its alleged "silence" on the Palghar lynchings.

Making the announcement live on air, Arnab said, “If this had happened in a state run by BJP, and, instead of Hindus, and let me be very direct about it, they were from any minority community, would Nasseeruddin Shah, Aparna Sen, Ramchandra Guha, Siddharth Varadarajan, and the award vapsi gang, would they have gone berserk today?”

“Whatever remaining credibility was left of the Editors’ Guild of India, it has been destroyed because of its abject silence on a series of self-serving stories. The Editors’ Guild of India has become a self-serving organization”, Goswami said.

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