Arnab Goswamy (Photo courtesy- social media)
The Bombay High Court has refused to grant bail to Arnab Goswami, editor-in-chief of Republic TV.
by Sudhanshu Tripathi 11 November 2020
One can easily remember the wisdom of George Orwell as reflected in his memorable words: ‘Ours is an age of democracy.’ As obvious, each government has to respect the voice of the people in the present era of popular democracy, which is inherent in their collective opinion manifesting the conscientious will of the people at large. That is the essential requirement of democracy anywhere in the world as democracy is the ‘government of the people, for the people and by the people’ according to the wise counsel of an ancient Greek philosopher Cleon. And that was reiterated by US President Abraham Lincoln more than one and a half-century ago. Hence, free, independent and fearless journalism is the sine-qua-non for a dynamic, vibrant, and meaningful democracy.
Against this backdrop, the continuing vengeance unleashed by the Maharashtra police against Republic Bharat’s Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami is highly condemnable. In fact, his inhuman arrest is absolutely illegal because the case wherein he has been implicated was closed two years ago. Apparently, the case was deliberately opened just to strike at Mr. Goswami, even without seeking arrest warrants from the competent court. The way he was forcibly arrested like a hardened criminal at the behest of the state government speaks much about gross abuse of the state machinery, obviously with a view to silence him and crush the freedom of the press, which indeed is the fourth pillar of government in a democracy. Indeed, this kind of hounding of a journalist is very disgusting and that reminds us of the emergency period in India during 1975.
In fact, Goswami has been instrumental in bringing out many new facts in connection with some of the most controversial cases, like Sushant Singh Rajput’s death-mystery including of an actress Disha Saliyan, Hathras, Shaheen Bagh protests, and few more such past incidents, thereby exposing unethical nexus among politicians, mafia, police and probably underworld, having an international presence. This nexus would obviously have been worried over Mr. Arnab’s investigative journalism, which might have brought-open their role in cooked-up misdeeds.
In fact, India is a democracy as guaranteed by the country’s Constitution, which is the supreme source of all powers and is the basic law of the land. As, the Preamble of the Indian Constitution explicitly says that it is WE THE PEOPLE OF INDIA which HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY on 26th November 1949. It is, in fact, a democracy wherein the people at large have the final say in all matters of governance. Hence, WE THE PEOPLE OF INDIA have every right to know each and everything pertaining to the affairs of the state, including politics, Bollywood, drug-cartels, criminal-syndicates, police, underworld, and their foreign funding to destabilize the country.
To strengthen democracy in the country, the Right to Information Act, 2005 has been framed by the Indian Parliament to justify the rationale in support of the popular awareness about the governance with a view to ensuring constitutionalism, meaning thereby that each organ of the government runs strictly according to the provisions of the Constitution and that never exceeds its limits as set out therein. All these are meant for making the country’s democracy truly meaningful and consolidating the Rule of Law, which stands for equality before the law, equal protection of the law, and easy and inexpensive availability of law for immediate redress of grievances of all. Thus constitutionalism and the Right to Information do help-contribute the spirit of democracy in the true sense of the term.
As evident, the Role of the Press assumes crucial significance in this context which, indeed, lets the common man know as to what exactly is going on in the country or world. It is by the enlightened awareness about governance, that the masses can take the right decisions in their interest as well as that of the society and the country. As the Latin phrase goes, Vox populi, Vox Dei ie voice of people is the voice of God; therefore it is the people in totality whose will is supreme. Hence it can neither be ignored nor trampled in any way by anyone, howsoever high or mighty one be.
That Arnab Goswami was doing exactly the same is the fact that nobody can question. Although he might have occasionally become noisy in his programme or his raising of relevant questions directly to the government and other political leaders and higher-ups in civil and police administration might have been embarrassing to all of them, but that was his duty as a journalist and certainly not a crime. He could have been restrained through media authorities or legal and genuine actions could have been taken through proper channels if he was found guilty in any way by the competent court of law. Interestingly, it was for the sake of every democracy in the country whereupon India shines as the largest successful polity in the world. However, long-pending reforms in police and judiciary are the need of the hour as the archaic provisions inherent in the system are detrimental to the innocents, and instead, beneficial to the criminals. How can then our democracy survive and sustain in accordance with the true spirit of the term?
Hence, Mr. Goswami must not be treated like a dreaded criminal or a terrorist and, instead, his persona must be protected under all circumstances and his human rights must immediately be made available to him. He must be granted immediate bail as he has already been very much humiliated and tortured but that instead has elevated him as a hero and icon of bold, fearless, and fair journalism. Given the blatant violation of the due legal actions, in this case, the shifting of Mr. Goswami to Taloja jail manifests yet another possible conspiracy because he has already expressed grave threats to his life. In this worrisome scenario, the Union government of India must initiate due actions with a view to safeguarding his person and fundamental rights by providing a tight security cover around him, as had been granted earlier to the film-actress Kangna Ranaut.
Further, it is the responsibility of the country’s Union government to ensure that all state governments do function strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Indian Constitution, as provided under Art. 355. Also, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India can initiate suo moto action, in this case, to ensure justice immediately to Mr. Arnab Goswami – as provided to the few inmates in the recent past – and proper redress to his family members and well-wishers who must be suffering endless trauma and agony while passing sleepless nights since he was taken away by the police.
Unfortunately, an eerie silence has engulfed the country as most of the political parties, leaders, media, and civil society groups are keeping mum over the issue except few individuals. Almost the entire media, which ought to have taken lead in staging a decisive crusade against mounting threats to the freedom of the press, are silent as if nothing has happened. Similarly, even civil society groups are not raising the issue against such a gross misuse of the coercive power upon a journalist. But what if anyone of them may have to undergo a similar agony in the future if such a barbarous assault on a high profile journalist goes unnoticed and without protest. This episode will obviously set the example for browbeating independent and fearless journalism in the future which must not happen in a democracy.
Nonetheless one must not forget that ultimately Truth prevails, despite all obstructions, repressions, or suppressions, ie satyamev jayate nanritam. And that has been vindicated again today by the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court today (11-11-2020), granting Mr. Arnab Goswami bail for his immediate release from the Taloja jail. Obviously, it underscores that the Hon’ble Supreme Court stands as a supreme custodian for the protection of human rights of all citizens in the country, thereby upholding once again the sanctity of the Indian Constitution. Thus Indian democracy has the potential to survive and sustain forever, despite occasional odds. And that holds that nothing is beyond human endeavour.