Republic Media Network’s Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami was arrested on Wednesday by the Maharashtra Police and was assaulted. Arnab’s lawyer who was with him at the Alibag Police Station said that he has suffered injury after being heckled by the Police.
Arnab’s lawyer said, “Family members were pushed, his house was cordoned off for three hours. He has an abrasion on his left hand, he already had an existing injury in his hand which was tried to tear apart. His arrest was not informed to his wife but his arrest punchnama says she was informed. He was pulled by his belt, and was beaten on the back of his spine. He appeals to citizens of India to support him.”
Shortly after, the BJP MLA and advocate Rahul Narwekar said from the Alibag police station; ‘See this incident with Arnab Goswami is destructive for a democracy. Today media is considered a fourth pillar, but this government has attempted to shake it. They have reopened a case not because it was required but because they wanted vendetta. This is revenge, and this investigation is harmful to democracy.”
Arnab arrested
In a shocking incident on Wednesday morning, Republic Media Network’s Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami was arrested by Maharashtra Police after the latter barged into his residence and assaulted him. After the arrest, Maharashtra Police took him to Raigad Police Station and have said that he has been arrested under charges of abetment of suicide in the 2018 Anvay Naik case – which was closed but has now been reopened.
The Mumbai Police before the arrest of Arnab manhandled him and as many as 8 police vehicles and at least 40-50 Police personnel were in his building premises. Moreover, the Mumbai Police blocked Republic Executive editor Niranjan Narayanswamy and senior associate editor Sanjay Pathak from entering Arnab’s residence. When Niranjan said that it is his right to report, he was thrown out of the building and the Mumbai Police wanted his phone.
Witch-hunt against Republic
This comes amid witch hunt against Republic Media Network, in which the Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh in his latest fake news plant called Arnab “the biggest hawala operator in the city of Mumbai.” Tearing apart the Mumbai Police’s ridiculous claim Arnab Goswami stressed that the network sustains only on the blessings of the viewers.
In total, Republic Media Network’s management & editorial staff have endured over 150 hours of questioning in a variety of cases that are beyond the initial fraud TRP matter, including Republic’s Senior Associate Editor Shawan Sen, Executive Editor Niranjan Narayanaswamy Output Editor Sagarika Mitra, Senior Associate Editor Shivani Gupta. The journalists maintained that they won’t reveal their sources.
The Param Bir Singh-led Mumbai Police’s brazen attempt to strike on press freedom has been exposed through the multiple sessions of unnecessary interrogation sessions. Taking it a step further, in a never-seen-before move, the Param Bir Singh-led Mumbai Police filed an FIR against the entire editorial team of the Network, invoking a 1922 British Raj-era law that had last been used in the Emergency-era.
Source: Republic World
