No Relief For Now For Arnab Goswami, High Court To Hear Plea Today

Mumbai: No interim relief will be given to Republic TV promoter Arnab Goswami in connection with his arrest in a 2018 abetment to suicide case concerning an architect and his mother, the Bombay High Court said on Thursday evening.
Saying it wanted to hear the matter “in detail”, the two-member bench denied Mr Goswami’s request for interim bail and set the next hearing for 3 PM Friday.

Today’s order means Mr Goswami will have to stay in jail for at least another day.

Arnab Goswami had filed a habeas corpus petition after his “illegal” arrest on Wednesday, seeking the court to quash the case against him and revoke his arrest; this was after the case closed by earlier governments was re-opened following appeals from architect Anvay Naik’s family.

Today senior lawyers Harish Salve and Abad Ponda argued that the re-opening of the case and Mr Goswami’s arrest were both “illegal” as neither had the sanction of a court or magistrate.

Mr Salve, appearing for Mr Goswami, argued there were several cases against the journalist by virtue of his profession and asked: “Please release this man as an ad-interim measure and hear the case in detail later. Will heavens fall in Maharashtra if he is released on interim bail?”

However, the court said it was not inclined to grant relief of any kind till it had heard all parties.

“Can’t pass interim order without hearing Complaint and State,” a bench comprising Justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik said, as it issued notices to the State and Adnya Naik (Mr Naik’s daughter).

Appropriate orders will be passed on Friday after hearing both parties, the court said, noting that it would also hear a petition filed by Mr Naik’s family.