Supreme Court starts hearing an appeal filed by Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami challenging the November 9 order of the Bombay High Court refusing him interim bail in the 2018 abetment to suicide case. Arnab Goswami was arrested from his Mumbai residence, last week had called his arrest and reopening of investigation in the two-year-old case as “illegal”; to which Bombay High court has suggested him to appeal to a lower court for bail.
Though the apex court is on a Diwali break, it is arranged for a special session to hear Arnab’s case. A two-judge bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee is hearing the case through video conferencing.
Justice Chandrachud says to senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Arnab Goswami, "Before you begin, there is one aspect we look at in these matters where there is a challenge to the FIRs. The only prayer which survives is the quashing of FIR."
Dushyant Dave, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, in a letter to the Secretary-General of the apex court, has argued against the "special treatment" given to Mr Goswami while "other litigants are waiting". Challenging Dave’s accusations, Arnab Goswami’s wife also has written a letter to the secretary-general referring to some cases which had been heard on a Sunday.
Reportedly, Mr Goswami has been accused abetting the suicide of 53-year-old interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother in 2018 fro which he was arrested by the Mumbai police. Avnay Naik, an architect and interior designer had designed Republic TV's sets, in a suicide note alleged that his dues were not paid by the channel and had also named Goswami and other two.
On Monday, a two-member bench of the Bombay High Court said that "no case was made out in the present matter for the high court to exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction." The High Court also stated that reopening of the investigation of a case by the state police "cannot be said to be irregular or illegal by any stretch of the imagination."
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Harish Salve and Abad Ponda, lawyers of Arnab Goswami have debated in the high court that the court’s consent and other legal obligations were not met before reopening the case by the police.
The case was closed earlier due to lack of evidence but the state government ordered for a re-investigation after demands from Naik’s family.