TV Anchor and Editor of the Republic Now channel Arnab Goswami will appear before the Mumbai Police for interrogation on Monday morning.
This follows the Mumbai Police sending him two notices for immediate interrogation for his alleged remarks against Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Accusing Goswami of making inflammatory statements in a televised debate on Palghar mob lynching, various leaders of the Congress party had filed complaints against him.
“Goswami has tried to provoke people by using indecent language. Using derogatory language against someone is not acceptable. He also tried to insult Congress President Sonia Gandhi,” Maharashtra Energy Minister and senior Congress leader Nitin Raut had said while filing a complaint against the journalist.
On Friday, the top court granted Goswami interim protection from arrest for three weeks in connection with several FIRs registered against him for allegedly defaming Congress interim president.
A two-judge bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud and also comprising Justice MR Shah, during the hearing held through video conferencing, said that “no coercive action should be taken against Goswami for three weeks during which he can seek anticipatory bail and other reliefs.”
The TV journalist and his wife were allegedly attacked in Mumbai past midnight on Wednesday by two men while they were driving home from their office. The couple escaped unhurt in the incident.
In his complaint, Goswami pointed fingers at the Congress party and mentioned a celebratory tweet by its leader Alka Lamba ‘just three hours after the attack.’
On Sunday, he urged the Mumbai Police to “show similar alacrity and a sense of immediacy” in investigating the attack on him and his wife on April 23.
“Despite my repeated requests the Mumbai Police has refused to mention the role of the Vadra Congress and its leadership in instigating the attack, carrying out the attack, and celebrating the attack. In order to ensure that the role of the Vadra Congress in the attack is not erased, I am sharing further facts with the Mumbai Police,” Goswami stated.
“I am sure that the Mumbai Police will not sidestep the detailed evidence available on the role of the Vadra Congress and delete the element of conspiracy and assault in the attack,” he added.
-India Legal Bureau