After Bombay High Court rejected Republic's Editor-In-Chief Arnab Goswami’s interim bail plea, Supreme Court has now granted him bail in the 2018 abetment of suicide case. Arnab along with two others was released on a bond of Rs 50,000 each on SC’s order. As per online reports, SC also asked the High Courts to exercise their jurisdiction to uphold personal liberty. Justices Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee heard Goswami’s plea challenging the Bombay HC order.
Justice D Y Chandrachud said, “SC is unhappy that HCs, which are constitutional courts, are not doing enough in matters where personal liberty is denied… If this court were not to interfere today, we are travelling on a path of destruction of personal liberty undeniably…Is this what our state governments will do to those who have to be nailed…? Don’t watch the channel of you don’t like… Left to myself I will not watch… If state govt’s target individuals in this manner, let’s send out a message that SC is there.”
Arnab Goswami and two others — Feroze Shaikh and Nitish Sarda — were arrested on November 4 and have been in judicial custody. Senior lawyer Harish Salve, who was representing Goswami, said that the case against Arnab did not stand the test of basic ingredients required to establish an offence of abetment to suicide under Section 306 of IPC. “For abetment, there must be a direct and indirect act of commission of offense. If a person commits suicide in Maharashtra & blames govt, will CM be arrested? Need to apply proximity test to prove abetment to suicide case,” said Salve.
Arnab and two others were sent into the judicial custody of 14 days in connection with 2018’s the abetment of suicide of architect-interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother over alleged non-payment of dues by Arnab’s company. (ALSO READ: New Mommy Amrita Rao Seeks Arnab Goswami’s Release After He Was Arrested; Says ‘We Want Arnab Back’)
#IndiaWithArnabGoswami #ArnabLifeUnderThreat #WeWantArnabBack https://t.co/TajvWMDToA
— AMRITA RAO 🇮🇳 (@AmritaRao) November 9, 2020
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