In a temporary relief to controversial anchor Arnab Goswami, the Bombay High Court has extended protection from arrest Republic TV founder in two criminal cases filed against him. The court also reserved its order on the writ petition filed by Goswami seeking quashing of two FIRs filed against him. This came weeks after FIR actress Kavita Kaushik and Saif Ali Khan’s co-star Kubbra Sait slammed him for shenanigans.
The Bombay High Court bench comprising Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Riyaz Chagla had on 9 June provided protection from arrest to Goswami but directed him to appear for police interrogation a day later. The controversial TV anchor was later grilled for at least 90 minutes at the NM Joshi Marg Police station on 10 June. According to Goswami, the cops had told him that he may be summoned for more grilling in the future.
Goswami in his application had sought several reliefs from the court including quashing of both the FIRs filed against him.
Goswami is accused of broadcasting two TV programmes on his channel allegedly to incited communal hatred against Muslims. In his first broadcast on the tragic lynchings of three people in Maharashtra’s Palghar, the pro-BJP anchor had made a desperate attempt to add a dangerous communal twist.
In another broadcast on the impromptu gathering of migrant workers outside the Bandra railway station during the nationwide lockdown, Goswami had made desperate attempt to highlight the presence of a mosque even though the Muslims’ place of worship had no relevance to the story. The first FIR was filed in NM Joshi Marg Police station, where Goswami was grilled for more than 12 hours along with his Chief Financial Officer.
The Republic TV founder had moved the Supreme Court, which rejected his application seeking quashing of FIRs and transfer of criminal cases to the CBI. The top court had made some scathing observations.
Several celebrities including FIR actress Kavita Kaushik, filmmaker Anubhav Sinha and actress Kubbra Sait had slammed Goswami for his shenanigans in the recent days leading to his interrogation by the Mumbai Police.