Editorial With Sujit Nair | Is Congress Settling Scores With Arnab? | Siddique Kappan | Zubair

[00:00:00] Namaskar Welcome to another episode of editorial Arnab Goswami was booked recklessly in a fake news case says Karnataka High Court What are you booking Arnab Goswami? Just because he is a big anchor that is why you are booking him? You are settling scores. That is what the Karnataka High Court said.

[00:00:28] Let's talk about it. Let's get right into the show. So there was this guy called M.V. Ravindran. Ravindran was a Congress member in Karnataka. Now M.V. Ravindran went and filed a complaint against Arnab Goswami, the managing editor of Republic TV.

[00:00:57] He said that Republic TV Kannada had published a fake news. The fake news was as follows that there was a traffic blockade according to Republic TV Kannada. There was a traffic blockade in Bangalore's MG Road because to allow the chief minister to travel.

[00:01:19] So because the chief minister's entourage was travelling, they stopped all the traffic and in the process of stopping all the traffic, an ambulance was stopped. And that ambulance, the person who was being taken to the hospital in that ambulance, that person, that patient passed away. This was the news item. And they said why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why this happened?

[00:01:46] Chief minister ke liya a man dies? Logical question. And then they realized that the chief minister was not there in Bangalore at all that day. The chief minister was in Mysore. So obviously the news turned out to be fake.

[00:02:07] Now, like I said, M. V. Ravindran went and filed a suit, went and filed a FIR and it came to the Karnataka High Court. The Karnataka High Court didn't take it lightly. The Karnataka High Court said that merely because the petitioner, that is Goswami, is renowned name in the fourth estate,

[00:02:32] fourth estate means media, press, is a renowned name in fourth estate, he is without rhyme and reason dragged in the web of crime, only to project registration of a crime against the petitioner, which on the face of it is reckless. Kaisa, how can you name a managing director who is sitting somewhere in Delhi, he used to sit in Mumbai before, now he doesn't, he sits in Delhi I am told. So he is sitting in Delhi, are you dragging his name?

[00:03:02] For a case which is not required, he may not even know that such a news happened in his channel. Well, normally it doesn't happen because you know, as an editor you know what happens in your channel, but tic acchalo, this is what the court says. The court went on to say that the court wants to know what offence the petitioner has committed.

[00:03:23] There is no reply, therefore he has done nothing, ostensibly, so that the petitioner has not committed any offence as observed here in above. The petitioner is dragged only because he is Arnab Goswami. It is un-understandable as to how a petitioner, that is Arnab Goswami, would be dragged into this.

[00:03:45] He being the editor in chief or executive director of Republic Media Network, he has neither made a statement nor aired anything to promote hatred between the classes. It becomes a classic illustration of dragging petitioner only till settles course, reckless pervades throughout the registration of the complaint. This is what the court said. The court said, except malified, there is no substance in the complaint.

[00:04:11] Permitting investigation, even in the case at hand would become an abuse of the process of the law and result to miscarriage of justice. Therefore, it deems it appropriate, obliterate the demo kills, sword hanging on the head of the petitioner of an irresponsible crime registered against him, said the court. This was the court said on the 13th of February. Okay, let's go.

[00:04:37] So, Republic says that because of the chief minister's cavalcade, the ambulance was stopped, the person died, there was no ambulance, there was no person and there was no chief minister. Chief minister was not in Bangalore, he was in Mysore. So, fake case. So, one congress member went and registered FIR where he said, this is a fake case, the registered was FIR against Arnab Goswami.

[00:05:02] The court says, boss, this is in Kandada, Republic Kandada, what are you dragging the executive director stroke managing editor of a channel into a case where it is a regional news? How can he be responsible for the regional news? He didn't promote the news. He didn't say that he didn't come to the television and anchor the news or neither did he promote the news. So, how are you holding him responsible? Haan, to a major extent, what the judge says is absolutely correct. To my mind, it is absolutely correct.

[00:05:32] You are dragging somebody who may not have directly influenced that news or may not have even promoted that news. Correct. Achha, one question I want to ask before I get into my next story, which is also somehow related to media and reporter,

[00:05:49] is if the chief minister was a Bharatiya Janata Party chief minister and if the cavalcade belonged to a Bharatiya Janata Party chief minister, would Republic carry the same news? Would Republic carry the same news? I don't know. I am asking my audience. Would Republic carry the same news?

[00:06:10] So, Republic carries the news of a Congress chief minister and the last common denominator in Republic knows that he can carry the news of a Congress chief minister. But that, I don't know whether it would have happened with the same figure for a Bharatiya Janata Party chief minister. This is what I think. It's a personal opinion. A question actually. I would like my audience to answer it. But I agree to the judge.

[00:06:40] I agree to the judge that dragging a managing editor to a local regional story and saying that you are responsible for it is not fair. Chalo. That is my story one. Now, let us go to my story two. My story number two is about a gentleman called Mohamed Zubair. Mohamed Zubair is a co-founder of Alt News.

[00:07:04] Now, Mohamed Zubair, the Allahabad High Court has extended the stay on his arrest till February 27th. That is Thursday. Mohamed Zubair is also a journalist. Now, why was he arrested? He was arrested by the Ghaziabad police because Mohamed Zubair in his Twitter account uploaded a series of speech made by this man called Yati Narsinganand.

[00:07:33] And this Yati Narsinganand, this man had spoken a lot of communal venom. So, these speeches were cut and they were uploaded on Twitter by this Alt News co-founder called Mohamed Zubair. Now, Yati Narsinganand's associate went and filed a police complaint in Ghaziabad saying that, he is spreading communal violence.

[00:08:01] He is putting all this in Twitter. Sir, that is going to spread communal violence. See, look what he is doing. Police came and arrested him. Achha, who spoke all these things which possibly could draw communal violence? Yati Narsinganand. Who went to jail? The person who propagated, showed the world that this is what this Yati Narsinganand is talking about. Mohamed Zubair. He went to jail.

[00:08:31] He was given bail immediately. He was given bail and now he is fighting the case. And like I said, Allahabad High Court has extended his bail to Thursday 27th. And ironically, ironically, the person like I said who said all this, Yati Narsinganand, nothing happened to him. Nothing happened to him. So, that's the story. This is the story number two.

[00:09:01] Now, let me go to story number three. Story number three is not current story. It's an old story. Siddhi Kappan. Siddhi Kappan was behind bars for 846 days. 846 days. He didn't get bail. He had gone to cover Hathras story in Uttar Pradesh from Kerala. From Kerala to Hathras.

[00:09:28] He went and he was arrested in Hathras. He was arrested in Uttar Pradesh 846 days behind bars. Then he was given bail. Now, the interesting part is the sections under which he was put behind bars are as follows. It is section 107, likely to commit breach of peace or disturb the peace and tranquility.

[00:09:51] 151, police officers power to arrest without orders from magistrate and warrant to prevent commission of any cognizable offense. The FIR was there thereafter filed October 7th, 2020 at Mathura. Section 153A, 295A and 124A and IPC Section 17 that is Funding of Terrorist Act and 14 of UAPA Act and Section 65, 72, 76 of Information Technology Act.

[00:10:21] All the possible act was invoked. This was in, like I told you, 2020. Now, very ironically, on December 23, 2022, the High Court, while granting the bail to Mr. Kappan in PMLA case, there was a, like I said, a Money Laundering case also. Prevention of Money Laundering Act case also registered against him.

[00:10:47] The court noted that the proceeds of crime, allegedly dealt by Mr. Kappan was only 5000 rupees. 5000 rupees, whereas to attract the twin condition of PMLA, the proceeds needs to be more than a crore. 5000 rupees only. And he was in jail for 846 days before he got a bail. So, three cases we spoke about.

[00:11:18] Arnab Goswami, Mohammed Zubair, Kappan. See, I agree to the judge. I agree to Karnataka High Court judge. Not that he is bothered whether I agree to him or not. His judgment stands. Mine is just an opinion. But all said and done, I agree to the Karnataka judge. Just because he is a famous journalist, just because he may not be very pro the dispensation.

[00:11:48] Therefore, dragging him into every case, dragging him into a regional story and dragging him into a fake news, which is possibly a regional team that has done, is unfair. It's unfair. It looks like they are trying to settle scores with him. It definitely looks like that. To that extent, I completely agree to the Karnataka High Court.

[00:12:09] But then, in Mohammed Zubair's case, he just highlighted what Yati Narsinghar Nand had said. He just highlighted saying that what he is saying is not correct. And he was arrested. Why? A person sitting in Bangalore or something, I think that is where he sits. He was arrested in Gaziabad. Why?

[00:12:37] Because he highlighted what Narsinghar Nand said. Is that why he was arrested? Is that fair? Is that fair? Narsinghar Nand has no bail, no case. Whereas Zubair has. Is that fair? A freelance journalist from Kerala, who went to Hathras to cover the Hathras rape case, was arrested and was behind bars for 846 days.

[00:13:05] Every possible case, every possible charges that could be levied on him, was put on him. And finally, the court says, 5,000 rupees for PMLA. You can't do PMLA for 5,000 rupees. You need at least one quarter rupees to do PMLA. This is the story of three different journalists. You know why I say this?

[00:13:29] I say this is because, as far as our law, as far as our law is concerned, as far as our constitution is concerned, our constitution, article 14 says equality before law. Equality before law. The state shall not deny any person equality before the law or the equal protection of laws within the territory of India. My constitution says this to me. My constitution gives me this guarantee. My constitution gives you this guarantee.

[00:13:59] We are citizens of this country. I am not saying what Karnataka High Court said is wrong. I am not saying what Allahabad High Court said is wrong. All I am saying is, were these three gentlemen treated the same way? This concept of equal before the law, were these three people equal before our law? That is the question I asked tonight.

[00:14:28] And that is what I will, what that is a thought I leave you behind with. Till I see you next time. That's tomorrow at 10. Namaskar.