The High Court of Karnataka has said that a criminal case against Arnab Goswami, the editor-in-chief of Republic Media Network, for allegedly ‘creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes by telecasting a report containing rumour,’ was a “classic illustration for dragging him only to settle other scores”.

“What was aired in the case at hand is an alleged false report that the convoy of Chief Minister [Siddaramaiah] had to pass and an ambulance had to wait. Even if it is construed to be true, it is un-understandable as to how the ingredients of Section 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code is met even to its remotest sense,” the court observed.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna made these observations while quashing the First Information Report (FIR) registered against Mr. Goswami of Republic Media Network, which runs Republic Kannada television channel, on March 27, 2024.

The FIR was registered based on a complaint by Ravindra M.V. of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee’s (KPCC) legal cell, Bengaluru. It was stated in the complaint that the channel had aired a ‘false’ video clip, shot by a person, on an alleged traffic jam created on M.G. Road in Bengaluru impacting the movement of an ambulance.

“Recklessness pervades throughout the registration of the complaint,” the court said, while pointing out that the petitioner, being the editor in-chief/executive director of Republic Media Network, had neither made a statement nor aired anything to promote hatred between the classes.

“…merely because the petitioner is a renowned name in the fourth estate, he is, without rhyme and reason, dragged into the web of crime, only to project registration of a crime against the petitioner, which on the face of it, is reckless,” the court observed.

Permitting even investigation even in this case would become an abuse of the process of law and result in miscarriage of justice, the court said while quashing the complaint.