In relief for Arnab, HC says he had targeted Sonia, Congress, not Muslims

Observing that it could not allow public debate with a Damocles' sword hanging over a journalist's head, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday stayed two FIRs filed against TV anchor Arnab Goswami for communalising the incidents of Palghar sadhu lynching and the gathering of hundreds of migrants outside Bandra station during the lockdown. The HC also ordered Mumbai Police not to take any coercive action against Goswami till further orders.

A bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Riyaz Chagla also said that Goswami did not target either Muslims or Christians but he had primarily targeted the Congress party and its president Sonia Gandhi, for not condemning the lynching incident.

In its 38-page order, the judges said there was no prima facie material to prove that Goswami indulged in communalism through his live TV shows.

"Prima facie, it appears that Goswami, as a journalist, had questioned the response, or rather, the alleged non-response of the Congress party and its president Sonia Gandhi to the killing of two Hindu sadhus, juxtaposing this with the question as to whether the Congress party or Gandhi would have kept quiet had any maulvi or padre been killed. Thereafter, he has made allegations over the foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi," the judges said.

"Thus, It is quite clear that the object of or the target of Goswami's attack was primarily Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party. There was no mention of either the Muslim or the Christian communities. It would be too far-fetched to say that two religious communities were involved in the debate," the judges said, granting interim relief to Goswami.

The two FIRs filed have now been stayed, which means, police cannot proceed further with the probe.