TV anchor seeks urgent hearing in SC on plea against FIRs lodged for doctored Rahul Gandhi video

EDs Adds details from petition New Delhi, Jul 7 PTIThe Supreme Court Thursday said the plea of a TV news anchor, facing FIRs in some states for playing a doctored clip of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, seeking clubbing of the cases and protection from coercive action is likely to be listed on Friday, subject to clearance from the CJI.

(EDs: Adds details from petition) New Delhi, Jul 7 (PTI)The Supreme Court Thursday said the plea of a TV news anchor, facing FIRs in some states for playing a doctored clip of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, seeking clubbing of the cases and protection from coercive action is likely to be listed on Friday, subject to clearance from the CJI. A vacation bench comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and J K Maheshwari, which on Wednesday had ordered listing of the plea of Rohit Ranjan for hearing on Thursday, said it was "awaiting an assignment from the CJI".

''It has not been assigned to us. It is awaiting assignment by the chief justice. It may not be assigned to us,'' said the bench. Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the news anchor, said the petition was directed to be listed for hearing today, but it has not figured in the list of business and urged that it be assigned to some bench on Friday.

''Let us see. The case papers are with the CJI...List the matter tomorrow subject to clearance by the CJI," the bench said.

The top court on Wednesday agreed to hear on Thursday the plea of the news anchor who is facing several FIRs in some states for playing a doctored clip of Gandhi.

Ranjan later apologised and the news programme was withdrawn.

In a petition filed through, lawyers' firm Karanjawala and Co, the news anchor has sought relief including the quashing of FIRs or complaints or their clubbing and transfer to one place.

Ranjan has also sought a direction that no coercive action be taken against him for the withdrawn programme for which he and the channel have apologised.

The petition has sought security for the journalist, his family members, and his colleagues associated with the programme in question.

''The present writ petition is being filed under Article 32 of the Constitution praying for the quashing /clubbing of almost identical criminal complaints. FIRs were filed across the country against the petitioner. The petitioner prays for the stay of coercive action during the pendency of the present petition,'' the plea said.

It said Ranjan ''anchored /hosted a programme on Zee News on July 1, 2022. The news show inadvertently misattributed certain quotes and the error was immediately rectified. An unconditional apology was tendered by the petitioner and Zee News and the news show was withdrawn even prior to the registration or filing of any FIR and complaint''.

However, subsequently, multiple FIRs and complaints have been filed against the petitioner under various provisions of law for the same incident and were almost set right by the petitioner, it said.

Referring to various judgements, it said, "there can be no second FIR and consequently there can be no fresh investigation in respect of the same cognizable offence or incident giving rise to one or more cognizable offences." ''Since it is impossible for the petitioner to approach various courts/police stations all over the country in respect of such FIRs/complaints, the present writ petition is being filed under Article 32 against the violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) (freedom of speech and expression) and Article 21 (right to life and liberty) of the Constitution,'' it said.

Furthermore, the issue was covered under the provisions of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and the Programming Rules against the broadcaster, it said.

''Therefore, when there is special law dealing with the issues in question, there was no question to invoke the criminal statute or registration of FIRs,'' it said.

On Tuesday, a police team from Chhattisgarh reached Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad town to arrest the anchor from his home but he was instead arrested by the Noida police who released him on bail later on Tuesday night.

''Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan was picked up from his home for questioning on Tuesday morning by a team from Noida Sector-20 police station in connection with an FIR lodged under IPC 505 (public mischief) on a complaint by his own channel over a doctored video played during his show on July 1,'' a Noida police officer had told PTI.

In Raipur, Senior Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal told PTI that a case was registered against Ranjan and others at Zee News on Sunday for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups and outraging religious feelings of people based on a complaint by Congress MLA Devendra Yadav.

In his complaint, Yadav said a video, in which Gandhi described those attacking his Wayanad office as children and said he had no ill-will against them, was ''mischievously'' used by the TV channel on July 1 to suggest he was forgiving the killers of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal.

The FIR in Raipur was lodged under IPC sections, including 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class), 467 (forgery), 469 (forgery to harm reputation), 504 (intentional insult).

On July 2, a day after the video was aired, Ranjan apologised for mistakenly playing Gandhi's statement out of context by linking it with the Udaipur murder case.

''It was a human error for which our team is apologetic. We apologise for it,'' he had tweeted in Hindi. One of the FIRs has also been lodged in Rajasthan as well for the same incident.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)