The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the plea filed by ARG Outlier Media, which owns Republic TV and other channels, seeking a CBI inquiry against the Commissioner of Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra Police DGP, and the quashing of all FIRs registered against Republic Bharat Editor Arnab Goswami. The petitioner was also seeking protection for all the employees of the news channel from coercive action by Maharashtra Police.
Rejecting the plea, the Court has given the petitioners liberty to approach the appropriate High Court. Calling the petition ambitious, a division Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee refused to quash all FIRs against Goswami. The Court was hearing a petition filed by ARG Outlier Media Private Limited, which owns Republic TV, seeking direction to the Union of India to grant protection to Republic employees, transfer of all cases to CBI, restraint on Maharashtra Police in arresting Republic employees, etc.
An FIR was filed in October 2020 against anchors and editors of Republic TV under relevant sections of the Police (Incitement to Disaffection) Act, 1922 and the Indian Penal Code. According to the FIR, the channel and its journalists through its content intentionally tried to incite disaffection among police personnel against the police commissioner and maligned the Mumbai Police’s image.
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Last month, the Apex Court had granted bail to Arnab Goswami in a case accusing him of abetting the suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik, saying that the ingredients of the offence of abetment to suicide could not be established against him.