In a massive development in Court, Arnab Goswami has gone all out in Bombay High Court against the Maharashtra Government. Crucial evidence, fresh details, and documents that undeniably establish the premeditated, prejudged, and predetermined nature of the action by the Maharashtra government, specifically on the part of Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, have been submitted to the Court ahead of the December 10, 2020 hearing in the Anvay Naik case. This comes after Deshmukh disregarded the Supreme Court’s observations in the Anvay Naik case.
The entire exercise in malice by the Maharashtra government from May 2020 to November 2020 has been documented by Arnab Goswami via his legal counsel. The facts, as submitted, prove that not only the directive for re-investigation of a case which was closed by a court of law but also the eventual direction of investigation has been scripted by the executive, the Maharashtra government.
In what will be a hammer blow to the Maharashtra Government and the police officers in its fist, Arnab Goswami has placed on record before the Bombay High Court not one but two scathing interim applications that prove in black and white that the Home Minister Anil Deshmukh is acting in contravention of the law and abusing his office to fix and frame and individual and a news network.
While the first application is to amend the Writ Petition by stating that new facts have emerged since the original filing, the second interim application is regarding the brazen statements made by Home Minister Anil Deshmukh regarding a charge sheet in defiance of all due process and in contravention of the top court observations on the matter. Elaborate evidence of the same has been included in the applications.
In the first application, Phoenix Legal which represents Arnab Goswami has spoken of how on May 26, 2020, the Home Department was intervening and sending letters to re-investigate the suicide case that was closed by a court of law following a closure report by the police. The second application is an Interim Application that speaks of a “fresh cause of action” given that the Home Minister of Maharashtra on November 28, 2020, made a public statement about a “strong charge-sheet” in the abetment to suicide case despite scathing observations by the Supreme Court.
With new facts, documented evidence, and two razor-sharp interim applications before the Bombay High Court, the Maharashtra Government’s campaign of vendetta will undoubtedly become a matter of scrutiny by the High Court. The strong evidence of deep malice, vendetta, and vengeful action by the Maharashtra Government is now before the court.
THE DETAILS:-
NEW FACTS, NEW PRAYERS PUT THE MAHARASHTRA STATE MACHINERY IN A CORNER: In light of new facts, Arnab Goswami’s applications have sought additional prayers -“stay the filing of charge-sheet in connection with the FIR”, quash the re-investigation and put a halt to all the coercive action in the case. These will all be heard by the Bombay High Court on December 10, 2020. By submitting new documents and the evidence of how the state machinery is acting in contravention of the law and due process, the applications put the Maharashtra state machinery in a corner before the court of law.
BIG OBSERVATIONS BY THE TOP COURT RINGFENCE THE MAHARASHTRA GOVT: The big hearing in the Bombay High Court in the closely watched case comes after the Supreme Court in a 55-page judgment made scathing observations about the state machinery and the misuse of the law by it. The top court said that prima facie the ingredients of the offense were not established and _“… it cannot be said that the Petitioner was guilty of having abetted the suicide within the meaning of Section 306 of the IPC”._ Despite this prima facie clean chit by the top court, the Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in 12 hours of the Supreme Court’s observations publicly declared that a “strong charge-sheet” would be filed against Arnab Goswami “soon”. The applications by Arnab Goswami place the brazen contraventions of the Supreme Court observations before the Bombay High Court, which will have to take a stand on this abuse and insult to the topmost judicial body.
APPLICATIONS PROVE PREMEDITATED EXERCISE IN THE NAME OF INVESTIGATION, EXPOSE MALICE OF MAHARASHTRA GOVT: The fresh application by Arnab Goswami has cited a letter that effectively proves how the entire investigation is politically scripted and prejudged to target an independent journalist. This letter dated May 26, 2020, by the Home Department of Maharashtra lays down clearly that it is this department under the Home Ministry that is calling for a ‘reinvestigation’ into the previously closed Anvay Naik suicide case, and transferring it to the CID. The letter addressed to the DGP establishes how the investigation has been politically puppeteered since Day 1 and is solely the result of abuse of power by elected representatives in ministerial seats.
WELL-DOCUMENTED EVIDENCE PUTS THE MAHA GOVT IN THE DOCK: With an interim application that says “there is a well-documented pattern of interference in the present case on the part of the Home Department, Maharashtra State and the Home Minister Mr. Anil Deshmukh”, and then presents evidence of how Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has in the past spoken of an “elaborate inquiry” on the floor of the Maharashtra Assembly. The density of facts, the intensity of the evidence, and the transparent nature of the malicious probe all make the entire police investigation in the Anvay Naik suicide case untenable and bad in law.
INTERIM APPLICATIONS DEAL A BIG BLOW TO THE MOTIVATED INVESTIGATION BY THE MAHARASHTRA STATE MACHINERY: Back-to-back observations by the Supreme Court have put the onus on the High Court to act and stop any abuse of power by the state machinery. The Supreme Court had made multiple observations in the judgment that granted bail to Arnab Goswami and others. The top court had said, “The misuse of the criminal law is a matter of which the High Court and the lower courts in this country must be alive.” The Supreme Court has already once called out the High Court for its failure to act when it noted, “the High Court could not but have been cognisant of the specific ground which was raised before it by the appellant that he was being made a target as a part of a series of occurrences which have been taking place since April 2020.” Now, all eyes will be on the Bombay High Court and whether it will stand on the right side of history, especially with the Apex Court scrutinizing its every move.
This Article Does Not Intend To Hurt The Sentiments Of Any Individual Community, Sect, Or Religion Etcetera. This Article Is Based Purely On The Authors Personal Views And Opinions In The Exercise Of The Fundamental Right Guaranteed Under Article 19(1)(A) And Other Related Laws Being Force In India, For The Time Being.
