A sessions court in Mumbai has adjourned till November 23 the hearing into the anticipatory bail plea of Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami and his wife and son, in a case registered against them by Mumbai Police for allegedly assaulting a woman police officer. Their lawyer Shyam Kalyankar said the plea could not be heard on Thursday as the judge did not preside.
"The anticipatory bail plea of Goswami and his wife was simply adjourned till November 23," he said. "We did not seek any interim protection from arrest today as we are waiting for the detailed order of the Supreme Court (passed on Wednesday granting bail to Goswami in another matter)," Kalyankar said.
Last week, an FIR was registered against Arnab Goswami, his wife Samyabrata Ray Goswami and his son at NM Joshi Marg police station in central Mumbai for allegedly assaulting a woman police officer when a police team went to his house to arrest him on November 4. They have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 353 (assault to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) and under the Damage to Public Property Act. Currently, Arnab Goswami and his wife have filed an anticipatory bail plea in the assault case.
The apex court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Goswami in a case of alleged abetment to suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik in 2018. Goswami, who was arrested on November 4, was released from the Taloja prison in Navi Mumbai late Wednesday evening. The Supreme Court granted him interim bail, observing it will be a "travesty of justice" if personal liberty is curtailed. The court also said that if the Constitutional Courts do not interfere in this case today then "we are travelling the path of destruction undeniably.
Goswami, the 47-year-old Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV who was lodged in Taloja jail in Alibaug in Raigad district adjoining Mumbai along with two others after they were sent to 14-day judicial custody on November 4 by a sessions court, got the relief from a vacation bench of the top court after a day-long hearing marked by some gripping exchanges.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee expressed concern over state governments targeting some individuals on the basis of ideology and difference of opinion, adding if they target individuals, people must realise there is the apex court to protect the liberty of citizens. It was also Justice Chandrachud's 61st birthday today.
The apex court also ticked off the Bombay High Court, saying it was in error in rejecting the pleas filed by the three accused seeking interim bail in the case.