The Mumbai Police has sent a show cause notice to Arnab Goswami (Republic Television editor-in-chief) asking him why a chapter proceeding under Section 108 of the Criminal Procedure Code should not be initiated against him.
The notice has been issued by Sudhir Jambavdekar, assistant commissioner of police (Worli division), exercising the powers of Executive Magistrate. The notice has asked Goswami to show reasons for not directing him to furnish a bond of Rs.10 lakh for the duration of one year with one guarantor “who is well-known in society and who can control his behaviour”.
Goswami has two FIRs registered against him in Mumbai. One has been registered at NM Joshi Marg police station earlier while the other is at the Pydhonie police station. Both the offences indicate similar allegations against Goswami of inciting hatred and communal tension between two religious groups or communities.
Show Cause Notice to Arnab Goswami Issued by Bombay HC
The show cause notice to Arnab Goswami states that Goswami’s channel spread communal tension and it can be easily seen from the extremely abusive, communal and hateful comments from the viewers of videos of the shows on YouTube.
Goswami will have to appear before the ACP and give satisfactory reasons on why such preventive action should not be taken against him.
If the ACP does not find his response satisfactory then he can initiate chapter proceedings against Goswami. Once that happens, Goswami will have to sign a legal security bond for good behaviour for a year (if he violates the bond then he would have to pay penalty of Rs 10 lakh).
The show cause notice to Arnab Goswami also mentioned that before the Palghar incident, Arnab Goswami had allegedly made provocative comments about a crowd of migrant labourers that had gathered outside the Bandra Railway Station in Mumbai during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
Earlier, the Mumbai police had registered an FIR against Goswami under Section 153A & 153B IPC alleging that he had communalized the Palghar and Bandra incidents.
