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Synopsis

The Karnataka High Court has quashed a case registered against Republic Media Network’s Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, finding no legal basis for the case.

The bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna deemed the allegations baseless and held that proceeding with the investigation would amount to an abuse of legal process.

"At the time of hearing of the petition, to a pointed query, that ‘the Court wants to know what offence the petitioner has committed’, there is no reply. Therefore, he has done nothing, ostensibly, so as the petitioner has not committed any offence as observed hereinabove, the petitioner is dragged in only because he is Arnab Goswami," the bench observed. 

The case arose from a complaint filed by Ravindra M.V., a member of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, against Arnab Goswami and the executive editor of Republic Kannada. The complaint alleged that Republic Kannada aired a false news report claiming that an ambulance was held up in Bengaluru due to the Chief Minister’s convoy, an assertion disputed by the authorities. Based on this, an FIR was registered under Section 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which penalizes statements promoting enmity, hatred, or ill-will between communities.

The high court found that the allegations did not meet the essential ingredients of Section 505(2) IPC. The provision applies to statements that incite enmity between different communities, whereas the disputed news segment merely concerned a traffic situation, court noted. 

It further underscored that even if the report was false, it did not amount to an offence under the charged section.

Justice Nagaprasanna further observed that Goswami, as a media house director, was not responsible for the daily editorial decisions of Republic Kannada. The judge criticized the inclusion of Goswami’s name in the FIR, stating that the complaint appeared to be driven by extraneous considerations rather than legal merit.

"It becomes a classic illustration of dragging the petitioner only to settle other scores. Recklessness pervades throughout the registration of the complaint," he said. 

Citing Supreme Court judgments, including Bilal Ahmed Kaloo v. State of Andhra Pradesh (1997) and Manzar Sayeed Khan v. State of Maharashtra (2007), the high court reaffirmed that mere publication of allegedly false news does not automatically constitute a criminal offence unless it incites hatred between groups.

Case Title: MR. ARNAB GOSWAMI vs. THE STATE OF KARNATAKA AND ANOTHER