Breaking- Arnab Goswami Released From Taloja Jail After Supreme Court's Order

Goswami, who was arrested from his Mumbai residence on the morning of November 4, 2020, in connection to an abetment to suicide case, was granted interim bail by a Bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud on Wednesday.

"If State Govts Targets Individual They Must Realise That SC is Here To Protect Them": Supreme Court Grants Interim Bail To Arnab Goswami

After hearing the arguments during the course of the day, the Bench observed that the High Court had erred in not exercising its jurisdiction to protect the personal liberty of a citizen. Justice Chandrachud remarked,

"If this court does not interfere today, we are travelling on the path of destruction. Forget this man (Goswami). You may not like his ideology. Left to myself, I will not watch his channel.

Keep aside everything. If this is what our state governments are going to do to people who are to be nailed, then the Supreme Court has to intervene. There has to be a message to HCs- Please exercise your jurisdiction to uphold personal liberty. We are seeing case after case. HCs are failing to exercise jurisdiction. People are in jail for tweets!".

Arnab Goswami Case : 'If This Court Does Not Interfere Today, We Are Travelling On Path Of Destruction', Says Justice Chandrachud

The Court had directed the Raigad police to ensure the compliance of the order of release forthwith, on execution of a personal bond for an amount of Rs 50,000/- by the accused-Petitioner.

Goswami was remanded to Judicial custody by the CJM, Alibag, last Wednesday. He was kept at a local school which has been designated as a COVID-19 centre for the Alibaug prison. On Sunday, he was shifted to Taloja prison in Mumbai after the police alleged that Goswami used mobile phone in custody without permission.

He is accused of abetting the suicide of a 52-year old interior designer named Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik. The Raigad police had closed the case in April 2019 saying that they did not find evidence against the accused named in the suicide note, including Goswami. However, in May this year, Anvay's daughter approached the Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh seeking the case be reopened.

Goswami had filed a writ of habeas corpus before the Bombay High Court, stating that the criminal proceedings against him were politically motivated and his arrest was illegal. A division bench comprising Justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik however dismissed the interim applications observing that no prima facie case was made out to exercise the extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

The Supreme Court has now observed that the High Court was in error in relegating the Petitioner to alternate remedy. The observation was made ahead of hearing of Goswami's regular bail application by the Alibag Session Court.

The Sessions Court had heard the revision petition filed by Raigad police seeking police custody of Arnab Goswami on Tuesday. It had reserved order and had listed it for pronouncement of verdict tomorrow, i.e. Thursday.

The Sessions Court had posted the regular bail application filed by Arnab Goswami for tomorrow. The bail application was filed on Monday ahead of the Bombay HC rejecting his interim bail application.

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