Arnab Goswami: Modern day Ram or Ravan?

After 14 days of judicial custody, Arnab Goswami was granted interim bail of 50,000 in the suicide amendment case of 2018.

Arnab Goswami is a news anchor, managing director and editor in chief of Republic Media Network. He is well known for his unique style of journalism.

On November 4, Arnab was arrested from his Mumbai residence for his alleged role in the death of Anvay Naik, who was a designer. He and his mother took their life in 2018 and mentioned Goswami’s role for not paying back the dues of almost 8 lakhs. The case was closed by Raigad Police in April 2019 due to lack of evidence. But recently, Maharashtra Home Minister ordered for reinvestigation based on the complaint filed by Naik’s daughter. His arrest was defined as “attack on media’s free speech and expression” and “backstabbing democracy” by various personalities.

Many criticised Maharashtra Government and Mumbai Police for acting out without any prior permission from the court and manhandling Arnab and his family. Also, the police have filed an additional complaint against him for allegedly assaulting a female police officer when they went to his residence to arrest him.

Soon after his arrest, he filed a plea with Bombay HC which was refused. Later after 4 hours long of virtual. hearing with the Supreme Court, they granted interim bail to Arnab and two other accused. The Supreme Court also stated that the decision of not granting the bail by Bombay HC was wrong. They also expressed their concern over state governments targeting individuals based on ideology and differences of opinion and  the failure of the high courts to protect the fundamental personal liberty rights  of individuals.

“If constitutional courts don’t protect liberty, who will?” asked Justice Chandrachud.

The judge also voiced his concern over treating Arnab inhumanly because his style of journalism does not suit the state government.  Recently, Arnab had criticized Mumbai Police for poor investigation in SSR case. He also called out the ongoing  Maharashtra Government Shiv Sena in various instances.

Liberals say that they don’t like his style of witch reporting but he did not deserve jail time. Many also suggested that it has nothing to do with the sucide amendment case but rather personal grudges of the state government. While Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave pointed out on the speedy bail hearing from SC. Holding no personal grudges against Arnab, he said that there are thousands of people in jail for a long time waiting for their bail hearing.

While thanking his loyal supporters, Arnab said that he would be expanding his news network in every state and he also dared Uddhav Thackeray to not touch his Republic News Network.