I had written a post on Arnab Goswami just recently, and the ink has not even dried, eight days flying past. Arnab’s high-profile counsel Harish Salve tried his best to obtain bail for his client from the High Court but failed. Salve returned to the Supreme Court and argued with substance and for long over the manner of Arnab’s arrest and how the government and the police disregard civil liberties.
I had written that I was bowled from the first day Republic was born, exposing scam after scams. The channel, the Chief editor Arnab Goswami relying on his decibel power and strong political affiliation soon failed to impress me. He could not do justice to the high ethical standards of many great journalists in India. He focussed on populism and TRPs and soon became anathema in the media world.
Be that as it may, about thirty policemen, many armed and led by an encounter specialist raid his home in the wee hours eight days ago, packing him off to Raigad. He was sent on two-week custody over a case of a suicide of one of his creditors. Arnab claims he was assaulted by the police, which may be an overstatement and a usual drama that I discount.
Arnab was denied bail, customary in such cases, often by the police themselves, failing which by the sessions court magistrate. Even the High Court denied this right, whereas the Apex court has clearly in many cases stated that a denial of bail should be only in cases where the prosecution believes of evidence tampering, of influencing witnesses or jumping the bail. Arnab could not have done any such thing.
Arnab is no ordinary mortal. He is a celebrity, unlike you and me. All he did was an over-doze of SSR’s suicide story and his demand for Rhea Chakravarty’s arrest that was crass. He took on the Police chief and the Chief Minister of Maharashtra as well, which were terrible by any journalistic standards.
The government’s harsh reaction was one rarely seen in any true democracy. There were regulatory bodies who could have taken action and stopped Arnab’s tirades, which seemed the reason for his harassment. The raid, assault, and arrest were reminiscent of a lawless reign. The hallowed freedom of thought and speech seem non-existent. If a celebrity could face such an ordeal, what could be the fate of ordinary citizens? The government must not become street fighters or goondas to take on any form of democratic media assaults.
What Arnab was doing was patently wrong, below the journalistic standards, but what the government did was horrendous. Not everyone can run to the High court and the Supreme Court, taking the most expensive counsels to seek reliefs.
India is faulting in its journey of democracy.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
