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A large number of people gather outside Taloja Jail to welcome Arnab Goswami, light diyas on the street

OpIndia Staff
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A large number of people gather outside Taloja Jail to welcome Arnab Goswami, light diyas on the street

Minutes after the Supreme Court of India ordered the immediate release of Arnab Goswami, the Managing Director and editor-in-chief of Republic Media Network, his supporters and fans came out on the streets across the country to celebrate his release. A large crowd also gathered outside the Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai, to greet the Editor of India’s largest TV news network when he comes out of the jail after formalities are completed.

Visuals shared on social media showed people lighting diyas outside the entrance gate of the jail, and a large number of people can be seen cheering the release.

The people gathered outside the gate could be heard chanting slogans of win of truth and defeat of falsehood.

Arnab Goswami’s supporters had started gathering outside the jail gate in the early evening, moments after the Supreme Court judgement came. The crowd continued to grow, and waited for several hours.

To control the crowd at the location, police had to deploy extra forces, so that the traffic movement on the road is not disrupted.

Till the time of writing this report, Arnab Goswami has not been released from Taloja Jail.

“MGB would have lost regardless of AIMIM candidates”: Asaduddin Owaisi punctures Congress’ “vote katua” allegations

OpIndia Staff
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“MGB would have lost regardless of AIMIM candidates”: Asaduddin Owaisi punctures Congress’ “vote katua” allegations

The Bihar assembly elections saw a close contest between the NDA alliance and the Mahagathbandhan alliance, with the former managing to win the elections with 125 seats, crossing the halfway mark required to form a government in the state. The victory of NDA in Bihar meant that the Congress party would continue its dismal electoral performance, losing yet another assembly poll. Soon after the trends indicated that MGB would fall short of the numbers required to form a government in Bihar, Congress attempted to fend off the inadequacies of the Congress party by pinning the blame of their defeat on AIMIM. 

Congress alleged that that Asaduddin Owaisi’s party, which won 5 of the 20 seats it fought in the Bihar elections, acted as a “vote katua” party which resulted in Congress’ defeat.

However, these allegations were staunchly opposed by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who took to Twitter to demolish the claims made by the Congress party. He had alleged that Congress is blaming its failures on AIMIM’s success. 

Owaisi shared the statistics of the 20 seats on which his party’s candidates fought elections. Out of 20 seats that AIMIM fought on, they won 5 while MGB bagged 9 seats and the NDA emerged victorious in the remaining 6 seats.

Sharing the details of the victory margins of the NDA candidates on the 6 seats that they won, Owaisi alleged that the margin was higher than the total votes secured by AIMIM candidates on those seats. Meaning, NDA would have won even if all those votes received by AIMIM had gone to MGB. As the votes received by AIMIM in those seats is less then the margin of victory of NDA candidates, the MGB candidates would have still ended up losing the seats. 

On Sahebgunj seat, NDA alliance partner VIP’s Raju Kumar Singh won the elections with the victory margin of over 15,000 votes. The AIMIM candidate in this constituency managed to get only 4000 odd votes. 

Similarly, BJP candidates from Chhatapur won with the vote margin of over 20,000 votes. Here, too, AIMIM candidate Alam could manage to secure only 1,990 votes. 

In Narpatganj, Jai Prakash Yadav from BJP won by over 28,500 votes while the AIMIM candidate got 5,495 votes. 

Similar was the story for Pranpur, Raniganj and Barari constituencies, where the NDA candidates secured a significantly higher number of votes as compared to their AIMIM counterparts, indicating that the votes collected by Owaisi’s party would have made little difference on the final outcome if they had not contested the elections and all of their votes had gone to MGB candidates.

It is notable that AIMIM had fielded Hindu candidates in several seats, like Phulwari, Sahabpur Kamal, Manihari, Raniganj and Barari. Therefore, even if AIMIM had not contested in those seats, it can’t be said that all of those votes would have gone to MGB candidates, and and some AIMIM votes could have gone to NDA candidates also.

Owaisi says Congress leadership is politically impotent to take on the Modi government

Earlier yesterday, Owaisi and Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera were involved in a heated argument over mutual allegations of radicalisation. Khera had gone on to allege that AIMIM’s “counter-radicalisation “ helped NDA secure majority in the state. 

These allegations were fiercely opposed by the AIMIM chief, who contended that Congress’ time is over and yet the party refuses to see the winning on the wall. He accused them of hiding their own shortcomings which led to their defeat.

Owaisi tore into the Congress party, claiming that the party leadership was “politically impotent” to take on the Modi government. He also also accused Congress of being a party that promoted radicalisation of youth, with its former PM Rajiv Gandhi opening the locks of Babri structure and more recently, by allying with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.

Delhi Government bans Chhath Puja in public places including riverbanks and temples

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Government bans Chhath Puja in public places including riverbanks and temples

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority has issued orders banning Chhath Puja in public places. Chief Secretary and Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) executive committee chairman Vijay Dev has ordered all DMs and DDCs of Police and all authorities concerned to ensure that the Chhath Puja rituals in November do not occur at public places, riverbanks, temples, etc.

The order has been passed to maintain social distancing regulations amid the Covid-19 pandemic. In the last few weeks, the number of cases in Delhi has increased exponentially. The government has also banned firecrackers in Delhi during Diwali stating that the increase in pollution may spike the number of Covid-19 cases. The government has said those who want to celebrate the Chhath festival can do it in their private spaces. However, they have to maintain the social distancing norms while performing rituals even on the rooftops.

Hold meetings with religious and community leaders

The Delhi government has asked DMs and DCPs to meet religious and community leaders and Chhath Puja Samitis before the festival and ask them for cooperation to maintain law and order.

Chhath’s importance in Delhi

Chhath Puja is celebrated in Delhi on a large scale by the natives of eastern UP and Bihar. This year the festival will be celebrated on 20th and 21st November. The devotees worship the Sun God at a nearby water body such as a river, pond, or tank. Last year, over 1100 ghats were marked for the festivities.

Pro-Beijing administration in Hong Kong disqualifies four pro-democracy legislators, other lawmakers threaten to resign

OpIndia Staff
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Pro-Beijing administration in Hong Kong disqualifies four pro-democracy legislators, other lawmakers threaten to resign

The Communist Party of China has continued to trample pro-democratic voices in Hong Kong after they forced their proxy administration in Hong Kong to disqualify four lawmakers on Wednesday citing a threat to national security.

According to the reports, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee after holding a series of meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday passed a resolution to disqualify those who support the city’s independence or refuse to acknowledge China’s sovereignty over the city.

The Standing Committee has removed the four lawmakers accusing them of committing acts that threaten national security and asking external forces to interfere in the city’s affairs.

Following the arbitrary disqualification of four pro-democracy lawmakers, several lawmakers have also warned against the disqualification saying that they would resign if the Hong Kong government does not reconsider their decision. The four lawmakers disqualified lawmakers are Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok, Kwok Ka-ki and Kenneth Leung.

“In terms of legality and constitutionality, obviously from our point of view this is clearly in breach of basic law and our rights to participate in public affairs, and a failure to observe due process,” said Kwok.

Reportedly, the new resolution was brought by Beijing through China-backed Hong Kong Chief executive Carrie Lam, who wanted the four lawmakers to be gone immediately as the term of the current legislation was extended for one year until 2021. The latest resolution comes nearly four months after the draconian National Security Law was passed by Beijing, which allowed them to prosecute anybody demanding separation from China.  

Anti-India sentiment is the ‘Churan’ that sells the most in Pakistan: Imran Khan’s party leader admits on TV

OpIndia Staff
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Anti-India sentiment is the ‘Churan’ that sells the most in Pakistan: Imran Khan’s party leader admits on TV

Pakistan’s politics runs on the fuel of India bashing and exploiting anti-India sentiment of Pakistan’s population, this fact has been admitted by Pakistani politician Firdous Ashiq Awan on Pakistani television. Awan was speaking to ARY News after being appointed as Special Assistant to Punjab Chief Minister and given the charge of Information Department which was earlier held by Fayaz-ul-Hassan Chauhan.

The news anchor asked Awan whether she agreed with Fayaz-ul-Hassan Chauhan’s statement in which he said that the government pleased India by removing him and that whether serious issues like treason and linking things with India and Prime Minister Modi had become very common in Pakistan. To this Awan replied that anti-India sentiment of the people of Pakistan is the best-selling product. “See, the anti-Indian sentiment of Pakistan’s people is a churan (powder) that sells the most. So if something sells the most on a shop, people sell it more. When the news anchor asked her whether the Pakistani government was selling the same churan, she said that not just the government by everyone was selling it.

Countering Awan, the news anchor said that the opposition in Pakistan was not selling this anti-India churan and that only government was selling it. Awan took a dig at the opposition and said that the opposition had sold such spices that Modi relished.

Pakistan thrives on anti-India sentiment and this is manifested every time the parody country tries to attack India. Recently, Pakistan’s attempt to push its anti-India propaganda at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) failed after Malidives came out in India’s defence. Pakistan’s PM and ministers usually spend their time on Twitter spreading falsehoods against the Indian government and closely following Indian politics, trying to find issues where they can cite the Indian government and spread their propaganda.

After Shiv Sena lost deposits on all the seats it fought in Bihar, party mouthpiece Saamana says credit must be given to it if Nitish Kumar becomes the CM

OpIndia Staff
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After Shiv Sena lost deposits on all the seats it fought in Bihar, party mouthpiece Saamana says credit must be given to it if Nitish Kumar becomes the CM

Even though Shiv Sena witnessed an embarrassing poll drubbing in the recently concluded Bihar assembly elections, it didn’t stop the Uddhav Thackeray-led party from taking a swipe at the BJP, a party which leads the victorious NDA alliance. In its mouthpiece Saamana, Shiv Sena jeered at the BJP by claiming if the Nitish Kumar retains the post of chief minister despite his party winning less number of seats, credit must go to Shiv Sena.

In its editorial article, Shiv Sena contended that Nitish Kumar would become the chief minister of Bihar despite his party bagging less number of seats than the BJP because of the political drama that unfolded in the aftermath of the Maharashtra elections last year when the BJP had allegedly not kept its word for a rotational chief ministerial post.

Sena, which lost deposits on all the 22 seats it fought in the Bihar assembly polls, mocked the JDU for winning just 43 seats while its alliance partner, BJP bagged more than 70 seats.

“If Nitish Kumar becomes the chief minister despite winning fewer seats, its credit should go to the Shiv Sena,” the Saamana editorial said. 

“BJP leader Amit Shah had assured that Nitish Kumar will be the chief minister of the state even if JDU scores less number of seats than the BJP. A similar kind of assurance was given to the Shiv Sena during the 2019 Assembly polls in Maharashtra, which was not honoured and the state witnessed a political ‘Mahabharat’,” the editorial said.

Furthermore, the article also went on to lavish praises on the RJD leader Tejshawi Yadav, the Mahagathbandhan chief ministerial candidate, for putting up a formidable fight in the elections.

“Bihar is ushering in the Tejashwi era. He has single-handedly put up a brave fight against those in power. It would be an injustice on the part of Tejshawi to say Modi’s charisma worked in Bihar. The election which appeared lopsided initially was turned on its head because of Tejshawi Yadav,” it said. 

Amit Shah and Devendra Fadnavis had categorically denied making any assurances regarding CM post to Shiv Sena

While Shiv Sena claims that Shah promised them a chief ministerial post before the elections, the Union Home Minister has emphatically denied on more occasions than one of providing any kind of assurances for CM post to Shiv Sena.

Shah also highlighted how no one from Shiv Sena raised objections when Devendra Fadnavis was promoted as the chief ministerial candidate during the entire election campaign. “The entire election campaigning promoted him as the CM candidate, and no one ever questioned it. We won about 70 per cent seats on which we fought, and Shiv Sena won on 42 per cent seats it fought on,” he said.

Even former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis categorically denied having made any promises of providing the chief ministerial position to Shiv Sena for 2.5 years. He claimed that the agreement over the rotational chief ministerial post which Shiv Sena continuously cited following the election result was never discussed before the polls.

BJP and Shiv Sena had jointly contested the Maharashtra Assembly elections 2019 but the alliance fell apart over the rift on the chief ministerial post. Shiv Sena had claimed that the BJP had agreed for 50-50 agreement, with a rotational chief ministerial post for a period of 2.5 years each. However, BJP leaders denied making any such promises to its alliance partners and highlighted how Devendra Fadnavis was projected as the chief ministerial candidate by the alliance while soliciting votes from the people.

Subsequently, Shiv Sena broke the alliance with the BJP and joined hands with its ideological rivals, Congress and the NCP, to form Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance to rule Maharashtra. Uddhav Thackeray was then elected as the chief minister of the state.

Chirag Paswan and Asaduddin Owaisi are being accused of being vote-katwas and b-team of BJP. But are they?

Editorial Desk
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Chirag Paswan and Asaduddin Owaisi are being accused of being vote-katwas and b-team of BJP. But are they?

Vote-katwa or vote-cutter is a very well-known term in Bihar politics and outside Bihar too. It basically refers to candidates who eats into the assumed vote bank or support base of another candidate, thus weakening him or her.

Both Asaduddin Owaisi and Chirag Paswan are being termed such by supporters of MGB (Mahagathbandhan of RJD, Congress, and Left parties) and NDA (BJP, JD(U) and allies) respectively. Owaisi is being especially targeted, because those pointing fingers at him include ‘independent’ journalists.

First of all, one has to understand who is a real vote-katwa. The ideal or genuine vote-katwa is never in the fray for winning at all. He knows it right from the beginning that he is just there to weaken someone else and he has no chance of scoring a victory, though obviously he doesn’t say so openly. On many occasions, they are propped and paid to be a vote-katwa, while on other occasions, they could be acting out of their own volition.

They could be propped up in advance as ‘true’ representative of a support base, or could be a last minute angry or dissident leader deciding to fight elections, and in some cases, they could be candidates with strikingly similar names to confuse a few voters – yes, the last types do exist. Just go through ECI websites and check candidate lists of some constituencies randomly, and there are high chances you can spot such candidates.

Now let’s see if Owaisi and Paswan, rather their respective parties AIMIM and LJP, really qualify to be slotted into such categories. The last one obviously is ruled out as they clearly were not putting up candidates with similar names. The main criterion to declare them as vote-katwa or not is to understand if they had gone into the battle fully knowing that they will not win.

One thing common between Owaisi and Paswan is that both of them didn’t put up candidates in all constituencies, and so they clearly knew that they are not going to win the assembly elections of their own. However, that doesn’t in itself make one a vote-katwa, because by that standard, every small party or independent candidates are vote-katwas.

One will have to see that in the regions and constituencies selected by them, did they get into the battle fully knowing that they had no chance of winning, or they gave their best fight to try to win in those areas. Also, the reasons and motivations behind selecting the constituencies – whether because they were strong in those pockets or because they wanted to weaken someone there – also become relevant.

On this criterion, Paswan appears a vote-katwa of sort because he deliberately chose constituencies where JD(U) was fighting while leaving most of the seats contested by BJP unchallenged. This hints at a mindset that the primary motive was not to win, but to weaken the JD(U). However, the fact that he also pitted some candidates against the BJP can be argued that winnability was a factor too.

LJP ended up winning one seat of its own while it garnered votes that were more than the margin of loss of JD(U) candidates in around 25 seats. From JD(U)’s point of view, this is vote-katwa written all over it. Since it ended up making BJP the ‘bigger brother’ in the NDA, one can accuse Chirag as being the b-team of the BJP. So can Chirag Paswan and LJP be termed vote-katwa?

Not really. What LJP can argue in its favour, and they won’t be wrong, is that they never tried to hide this anti-JD(U) targeting at any point of time. Remember that a vote-katwa never publicly admits being so.

Chirag Paswan from the beginning said that his displeasure was with JD(U) and Nitish Kumar and not with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. He used to claim that he would form the government along with BJP after the results. A vote-katwa doesn’t publicly announce that his primary intention is to hurt a particular party only.

Further, Chirag inherits his politics from his father Ram Vilas Paswan who founded LJP. Senior Paswan unfortunately passed away before the elections, but he had founded LJP with an aim of being king-maker and not vote-katwa. In February 2005 Bihar assembly elections, Ram Vilas Paswan and LJP indeed ended up being the king-makers. However senior Paswan then refused to support either side, which led to another assembly elections for Bihar in October same year. Perhaps Chirag Pawan thought he could repeat the feat of February 2005, and thus he indeed was motivated to win on seats his party was contesting.

Therefore, LJP can’t really be accused of being a vote-katwa, though some allegations could stick.

Now let’s come to AIMIM i.e. Asaduddin Owaisi’s Hyderabad based party, which was supposed to be just a one-man party on a national stage for all practical purposes. But over the years the party has registered its presence way beyond Hyderabad. In Bihar assembly election 2020, his party won 5 seats and he could as well have become the king-maker if 4-5 seats of NDA were lost to MGB.

Owaisi has since announced that his party could fight the upcoming West Bengal assembly election too, and that has further led to him being a vote-katwa, apparently working in tandem with BJP to hurt ‘secular’ parties by eating away their Muslim votes. Congress and some ‘independent’ journalists never shy away from terming him the b-team of BJP. But is he?

With talk of khilafat 2.0, and “diminishing political representation of muslims”, India is almost re-living what happened exactly hundred years back. We have seen dubious individuals at Jamia Millia Islamia University, who are associated with an organisation that is considered the ‘Blood Brother’ of a banned Radical Islamic outfit, giving calls for Jihad following which violence erupted at the national capital. During the anti-CAA protests, even the Aligarh Muslim University, the founder of which gave the two-nation theory that led to the partition of the country, witnessed great violence.

In past few years we have witness an elaborate network of Islamic fundamentalist organizations whose people spread across the media and Universities attempted to foment discord within the country. The violence that shook Delhi earlier this year cannot be disassociated from this network by any means. Pro-Jinnah slogans were raised and ruling ‘secular’ dispensation watched as mute spectators because they did not wish to hurt their Muslim vote-bank.

Owaisi type of leader was bound to rise in India just as Jinnah rose during India’s independence. Owaisi is without a doubt fighting to win. He wants to establish Muslim authority and makes no effort fo shy away from it. And while he may end up hurting the electoral prospects of other parties, he is still fighting to win. That is why from for him, moving to West Bengal as next battleground is only natural progression.

To dismiss his political aspirations as ‘vote-katwa’ just because Congress, which even gave ticket to a pro-Jinnah leader to fight Bihar election, does not have monopoly over ‘Muslim votes’ for pretending to be a centrist party just reeks of entitlement.

Over 82 lakh paid in legal charges by BMC in Kangana Ranaut bungalow demolition case: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Over 82 lakh paid in legal charges by BMC in Kangana Ranaut bungalow demolition case: Report

In an RTI reply, BMC said they had paid Rs.82.5 lakh in legal charges to a senior lawyer for representing the municipal body in Kangana Ranaut’s bungalow demolition case in Bombay High Court, as per a report in the Times of India. An RTI activist Sharad Yadav had applied to obtain the said information.

As per the TOI report, Yadav said there are senior advocates on the BMC panel but to justify the ruling party’s political ego, BMC spent 82.5 lakh of public money to hire a senior counsel. “There is no clear policy over the issue, he further added.

Demolition of actor Kangana Ranaut’s bungalow

BMC had alleged that Ranaut was commencing an unauthorized construction in her Mumbai office-cum-residential bungalow located at Chetak Row House, in Pali Hill, Bandra (west). On 9th September, they executed the under-renovation property’s demolition order. At the time of demolition, Ranaut was traveling to Mumbai from her hometown in Himachal Pradesh.

She approached the High Court to get a stay on any further action by BMC. To represent BMC in court, a senior lawyer was hired and charged Rs.82.5 lakh for appearing in court. On 5th October, the court had concluded the hearing and reserved the decision.

The first RTI application was rejected

According to reports, Yadav’s first RTI application was rejected. He had also filed an RTI with the H-West ward office under which the western stretch of Bandra-Khar-Santacruz falls. He had asked about the total number of complaints the office had received related to encroachment of the refuge areas. The application was submitted in March. In September, BMC said it could not provide the required information due to a workforce shortage during the Covid-19 pandemic. Regarding the Kangana case, after the rejection of his first query, Yadav had filed another application and had received a reply on October 27.

Kangana Vs Shiv Sena

After the alleged suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, Kangana Ranaut came down heavily on the ruling party in Maharashtra, alleging misappropriations in the investigation. At the time of demolition of her bungalow by BMC, Ranaut had alleged that the municipal body is acting on the behest of the ruling party, Shiv Sena. Sanjay Raut had called her ‘Haramkhor’ and later tried to justify it saying it means naughty. The clip of him calling her names was playing in the High Court during the hearing. Other Shiv Sena leaders had also threatened assault and harassment of the actress, following which she was provided security by the Himachal Pradesh government.

Supreme Court grants bail to Arnab Goswami in 2018 suicide case, directs Maharashtra police to release him immediately

OpIndia Staff
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Supreme Court grants bail to Arnab Goswami in 2018 suicide case, directs Maharashtra police to release him immediately

The Supreme Court of India has ordered the immediate release of Republic TV chief and two other co-accused after granting an interim bail in connection with the suicide case filed against them by the Maharashtra government.

A Supreme Court Bench comprising of Justice Chandrachud and Justice Indu Malhotra hearing the petition said that Bombay High Court made an error in rejecting the application for grant of interim bail on technical grounds. The apex court also directed the Raigad police to ensure the compliance of the order of release of Arnab Goswami forthwith.

The Supreme Court also asked Arnab Goswami and two other accused to execute a personal bond for an amount of Rs 50,000 for release on interim bail.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard a special leave petition filed by Republic TV Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami seeking interim bail in the case concerning the suicide of interior designer, Anvay Naik and the mysterious death of mother Kumud Naik.

Arnab Goswami had challenged a Bombay High Court order of November 9 which had rejected the bail plea while asking him to move Sessions court for regular bail. The case filed against Arnab Goswami by the Mumbai Police pertains to the suicide of an interior designer named Anvay Naik.

In May 2018, an FIR was filed against Arnab Goswami after an interior designer had committed suicide in Mumbai. In a suicide note, Anvay Naik claimed Goswami owed him a total of Rs 83 lakh. The note also said that one Feroze Sheikh had owed him Rs 4 crore and another person Nitesh Sarda had owned him Rs 55 lakh. Based on the suicide note, the family of Naik had filed an abetement of suicide case against Goswami and the two others. However, police found no evidence that the three named in the note were responsible for Naik’s suicide, and had filed a closure report. The court had accepted the report, effectively closing the case.

All three accused has denied that they abated the suicide. Republic has said that out of total contract of around Rs 6 crore, some amount was held back as there were defects in the work done by the Naik’s firm. According to the contract signed, full payment was to be made after rectifying defects. On the other hand, Sheikh’s lawyers have said that they have made full payment, and they have documentary evidence proving that there are no due amount to be paid by them to Naik’s company.

However, during the last few months, Maharashtra government has launched several false cases against Republic TV, and in part of that, the closed case was also re-opened by police on the orders of the home minister.

Senior Advocate Harish Salve appeared for Arnab Goswami, while Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for Shiva Sena-led Maharashtra government.

Arnab Goswami is a collateral damage, says Harish Salve representing Republic TV chief

Appearing on behalf of Arnab Goswami, Harish Salve argued that his client is a target of collateral damage and added that when petition was filed, the order of Magistrate was not there. He urged the court to see the malice on part of the State needs to be seen at.

“We are past FIR stage and it was lodged way back in 2018 after which it was probed and closure report was filed. A closure report was filed in April 2019,” Salve apprised the court regarding the timeline of the suicide case re-opened against Arnab Goswami.

Advocate Salve also mentioned to the Supreme Court on how Anvay Naik had “murdered” his mother and then committed suicide. He also submitted documents to show that amount was paid by Arnab to all vendors and also informed the court about ‘Concorde designs‘, the company run by Naik’s company was financially stressed for the last seven years.

Case was re-opened after Republic TV’s coverage on Palghar case

Salve added that the matter remained silent till May 2020, however, picked up after Republic TV’s coverage on Palghar incidents took place. Alleging a witch-hunt by the Maharashtra government against Arnab Goswami, Salve said that the Maharashtra Home Minister directed the DGP to re-investigate the suciide case even after closure report was filed in the case.

Salve also mentioned how Goswami was blamed for allegedly making inflammatory statements regarding the migrant gathering at Bandra. The Shiv Sena’s letter to cable operators to ban Republic was also pointed out by Arnab Goswami’s counsel highlighting the vendetta by the Maharashtra government.

“The letter by the Secretary of Assembly to Speaker had earned him a contempt notice from CJI where he attempted to threaten a person from approaching Supreme Court,” Harish Salve said to the Supreme Court seeking relief for Arnab Goswami.

Salve, citing the privilege motion moved in the Maharashtra assembly for questioning Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, said, ” It is appalling that he was held up for referring to the CM in a single worded salutation and this is a breach of privilege?”

The counsel representing Arnab Goswami also apprised the top court regarding the Hansa Research’s petition in the Bombay HC alleging harassment by the Mumbai Police to make false statements against Republic TV.

Harish Salve also questioned why would Naik’s family needed two years to challenge the order passed by the magistrate court that had issued a closure report in the case. “Prima facie link between accused and suicide cannot be created. The judge should have released him on bond. That was not to be. Hence this plea before you. Not just quashing FIR,” Salve urged the top court.

Salve also alleged that the Mumbai police will do what they have done in Hansa case and will keep coercing witnesses if the court did not interfere in the case.

Dangerous precedent to re-open a closed case for investigation by Executive order, says Salve

Senior Advocate Harish Salve also mentioned how Maharashtra government has a set a dangerous precedent by re-investigating a case even after magistrate had accepted an A summary in the case.

“Truth has a nasty habit of sneaking out. They state that since police has been directed to reinvestigate they are doing so. Now who ordered this?,” asked Harish Salve, to which Justice Chandrachud responded by saying it was ordered by none other than Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

Advocate Salve said that the police was directed to investigate and they are telling the Magistrate that they filed a closure report but they are not saying that report was accepted. Now on the basis of the this, Section 164 CrPC was invoked and Arnab was arrested, Salve mentioned.

Salve also pointed out that for abetment there are judgments that show that mens real intention is the most important aspect on part of the accused. “For abetment there must be direct and indirect act of the commission of the offence. If tomorrow, a person commits suicide in Maharashtra and blames Govt, then will the Chief minister be arrested,” he asked the Supreme Court.

Is Arnab Goswami a terrorist? asks Harish Salve

Arguing on behalf of Arnab Goswami, Harish Salve posed a strong question to Maharashtra government asking, “Is Goswami a terrorist, is there a murder charge on him ? Why can’t he be give bail?”

Meanwhile, he added that there was no personal relationship between Arnab Goswami and Anvay Naik and mere contractual dispute cannot be abetment to suicide, Harish Salve submitted before the court.

Senior Advocate Gopal Shankaranarayanan also made submissions for the co-accused Firoz Muhammed Sheikh and added that the accused persons had no connection. However, the FIR mentions that there was a ‘common intention’ despite they were absolute strangers.

“Firoz Md Sheikh is a director of the company which hired another company which in turn gave contract to Anvay Naik. The principle in ‘Sunil Bharati Mittal’ case that criminal liability of company cannot be extrapolated will apply here,” submitted Advocate Shankaranarayanan on behalf of accused Sheikh saying that there are five levels of separation between the accused and the deceased.

Taking all the submissions into account, Justice Chandrachud said the case cannot be a case for custodial interrogation.

If we don’t interfere in this case today we will walk on path of destruction, says Supreme Court

Justice Chandrachud, hearing the plea, said that the allegations against Goswami are that the deceased had a total of 6.45 crores due and Goswami was to pay 88 Lakhs and asked whether owing money to a person and that person committing suicide would lead to abetment.

“Deceased was suffering from “manasik tadpan” as in FIR or mental stress? For Section 306, abetment there needs to be actual incitement. Does one owes money to another and they commit suicide – would it be abetment?” Justice Chandrachud asked Kapil Sibal representing Maharashtra government.

Justice Chandrachud added, “Such cases comes between husband and wife. But here is there an active incitement to suicide? Can you say that it is a case for custodial interrogation? High Court has written 56 pages order but had not dealt with the basic question… was an offence made out prima facie?” 

Justice Chandrachud also asked whether it will not be a travesty of justice if someone is denied bail. Slamming Bombay High Court, Justice Chandrachud said High Court writes pages on why habeas corpus is not maintainable when that prayer was given up in beginning.

“If we don’t interfere in this case today we will walk on path of destruction. If left to me I won’t watch the channel and you may differ in ideology but Constitutional courts will have to protect such freedoms,” said Supreme Court in a scathing observation.

Citing similar cases of state overreach in arresting individuals, Justice Chandrachud pointed how a woman was hauled up for a tweet in West Bengal as she criticised the lockdown enforcement. She was issued summons under 41A. Is this fair? This cannot happen, he observed.

“Forget Arnab Goswami for a moment, we are a Constitutional court. The other day, a young BSC nursing student who was in a relationship with the constable later realised that constable was married. She commits suicide. But then he applied for anticipatory bail and all lower courts denied,” he added.

“If we as a Constitutional court do not lay down law and protect liberty, then who will?” the Supreme Court said while granting bail to Arnab Goswami.

Justice Chandrachud also said that the victim is entitled to recourse as in proper and fair probe. Answer is simple. If you don’t like a channel then don’t watch, the Supreme Court judge observed.

Mumbai Police arrested Arnab Goswami in a 2018-suicide case

Arnab was arrested on Wednesday for a now-reopened 2018 abatement of the suicide case of an architect, Anvay Naik. In his suicide note, the architect has blamed a few people, including Arnab Goswami, for not paying dues. Later, the court had closed the case after the Raigad police filed a closure report, but it was reopened in May 2020 by the Maharashtra government.

Continuing their witch-hunt against Republic TV chief, the Mumbai Police had barged into the residence and had arrested Arnab Goswami. The Mumbai Police had physically manhandled him as they tried to detain him in a 2018 abetment to suicide case that was already closed.

A team of Mumbai Police arrested Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami after they physically assaulted and dragged him by grabbing his hair. In a shocking act, a large contingent of Mumbai Police was seen present at Goswami’s residence on Wednesday morning. In the below video, it can be seen how officials of the Mumbai Police were manhandling the Republic TV chief.

Social media user Sameet Thakkar, arrested for making critical remarks against Thackerays, sent to police custody till November 13th

OpIndia Staff
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Social media user Sameet Thakkar, arrested for making critical remarks against Thackerays, sent to police custody till November 13th

Arrested for his critical remarks for Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and his son, Maharashtra Environment Minister, Aaditya Thackeray, social media user Sameet Thakkar has been sent to police custody till November 13th in connection with the BKC cyber matter.

It is pertinent to note here the courts are observing holidays from November 13 to 15. This means Sameet will have to spend this year’s Diwali in jail and the prospect of the court hearing his bail application is only possible after the holidays are over, i.e November 16th.

The current development came after Thakkar’s bail application was rejected on Monday this week. He was re-arrested and sent to judicial custody by a local court in Girgaon. Mumbai Police had rearrested Sameet Thakkar from the court premises after a Nagpur court granted him bail on November 2. 

Sameet Thakkar arrested for critical remarks against Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray

Thakkar was arrested in Nagpur on October 24 after multiple FIRs were registered against him in Nagpur and Mumbai for his remarks where he has allegedly referred to the Maharashtra Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray as “baby penguin”.

On 2nd July, two FIRs were registered against Sameer in Nagpur and at VP Road police station, Mumbai. He was accused of posting objectionable content against CM Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray and Nitin Raut. On 1st and 30th June, he posted against Thackerays, while on 1st July he had posted a tweet against Raut.

Sameet Thakkar led to court with his hands tied with a rope and face covered with a black cloth

Earlier last week, an unsettling video of Sameet with his hands being tied with a rope and his face covered with a black cloth, led by police officials had surfaced on the internet. The video was from October 30, when Sameet was being taken to the court which extended his police custody till November 2. In the video, it could be seen that a man with a black cloth wrapped around his head was being led by a man with a rope. The video was captured from a distance and there are policemen clearly visible. Sneha Singhvi, the person who shared the video on Twitter, confirmed to us that the man with a black face cover was indeed Sameet Thakkar. 

On November 2, moments after Nagpur Court granted Sameet bail, Mumbai VP Road police arrested him from the court premises and took him to Mumbai. Sameet’s brother, Rishi alleged that his brother has been arrested by a well-thought-out conspiracy. He said multiple FIRs were registered against Sameet, so if he manages to get bail in one, he could be arrested on the basis of another FIR.

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