Arnab Goswami moves Supreme Court, seeks stay on FIRs against him in 5 states
New Delhi(HT): Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami moved the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking a stay on the FIRs registered against him in various states for hate speeches and for defamation of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
A bench of justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah will hear the case on Friday.
Goswami has prayed that no coercive measures should be taken on FIRs registered against him in the states of Maharashtra, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
He has submitted that action against him is an attempt to curb free speech and the Freedom of the Press under Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution.
Earlier on Thursday, Maharashtra Police arrested two people for allegedly attacking Goswami, a day after Congress leaders filed FIRs against the journalist in several states for his comments against party chief Sonia Gandhi on his primetime show.
In his complaint, Goswami said his wife and he were attacked by two men on a motorcycle around 12.15 am on Thursday and blamed the Congress. The party, however, has denied all charges.
Abhinash Kumar, deputy commissioner of police, said, “Both the accused were arrested immediately with the help of security personnel with Goswami.”
In a video, Goswami said he was told by his security guards the attackers were allegedly Youth Congress workers.
“Not a single Congressman is involved… this is not our tradition, not our culture,” said party general secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal in response to the allegations.