Republic TV Sends Legal Notice To Indian Express For Publishing A News Item Alleging That Arnab Bribed Ex-BARC CEO To Manipulate TRP
(Judicial Quest News Network)
The Republic-TV has sent a legal notice to the Indian Express newspaper, in the wake of the latter’s report on channel head Arnab Goswami allegedly having paid BARC chief Partho Dasgupta Rs. 40 Lakhs on different occasions in last three years.
In its notice served to Indian Express, Republic -TV has claimed that the story is a part of the mala fide, vicious and vexatious campaign to tarnish the reputation of its Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami.
“Despite the pendency of the matter before a court of law, which is well known to you, the above news report has attributed guilt to our client in relation to the alleged TRP scam. The news report has sought to impute guilt on our client without paying any heed to the true facts and to the indeterminacy of the issues and pending court action by our client before the Hon’ble Bombay High Court. The news report has alleged that the former BARC CEO, Mr. Partho Dasgupta has stated”Reads the Notice.
Republic has further claimed that the headline of the repot was squarely deliberate and mischievous.
The very headline of your news report would mislead any reader into wrongly believing that, as a matter of fact, payments were made by our client, Mr. Goswami to Mr. Partho Dasgupta. Such a headline is squarely deliberate and mischievous. Furthermore, the news report then deliberately omits to mention that the above statement was extracted by the Mumbai police from Mr. Partho Dasgupta under coercion and duress, is inadmissible in law, and has already been denied by Mr. Dasgupta himself.
The Legal Notice is sent through Phoenix Legal
Reference is made to Section 25 of the Indian Evidence Act which lays down that a confession made to a police-officer shall never be proved as against a person accused of any offence and Under Section 26 it is clear that it is only when a confession is made in the immediate presence of a magistrate that it may be considered valid.
The notice has clearly mentioned the Chronological events as under
(i) THE ARREST: Mr. Dasgupta was arrested on 24 December 2020 by the Mumbai police in connection with FIR No. 143 of 2020 under Sections 409, 420, 465, 468, 406, 120(B),174, 179, 201, 204, 212, 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. This FIR was registered by the Mumbai police in connection with the alleged TRP scam. Mr. Dasgupta was remanded to judicial custody on 30 December 2020 and thereafter moved to Taloja Central Prison, Navi Mumbai.
(ii) THE ALLEGED STATEMENT BEREFT OF EVIDENTIARY VALUE: Indian Express states “Dasgupta’s statement was recorded in the office of the Crime Intelligence Unit on December 27, 2020, at 5.15 pm, in the presence of two witnesses.” However, the news report omits to mention that the statement allegedly by Mr. Dasgupta was made while he was in police custody and hence inadmissible in evidence. The news report also omits that the statement was extracted from by the Mumbai police from Mr. Dasgupta under coercion and duress. The Indian Evidence Act under Section 25 lays down that a confession made to a police-officer shall never be proved as against a person accused of any offence and under Section 26 it is clear that it is only when a confession is made in the immediate presence of a Magistrate that it may be considered valid.
(iii) THE OVERT DENIAL OF MANIPULATION OF DATA TO BENEFIT REPUBLIC IN PARTHO DASGUPTA’S BAIL APPLICATION: The Bail application of Mr. Dasgupta filed on 6 January 2021 before the Sessions Court, Mumbai states that there was no manipulation of TRP by the Republic Media Network. It states:
“It is the case of the prosecution that the Applicant has used his position to manipulate the said TRPs for benefit of Republic TV. It is submitted that the said allegation is purely based on conjecture and surmise.” ….“The Applicant is a reputed professional having a flourishing career for the last 22 years and have acquired the said Jewelry from his legitimate earnings way before 2017, some of the Jewelry kept in the said Locker belongs to his wife which was gifted to her in their Wedding in the year 1994 and the said Account of HDFC BANK in Wadala and Locker was also opened in the year 2013 way before 2017. The Applicant submits that the said Jewelry is in no way connected to any of the tainted money as alleged by the Respondent, there is no material to show that Mr. Arnab Goswami paid the Applicant any money as alleged by the Respondent. The said Jewelry is purchased by the Respondent and his family members by their hard-earned money which belongs to his wife and has receipts, pictures and credit cards statements way before the alleged period of 2017-2019 to prove the same. ” [emphasis supplied]
(iv) THE HOSPITALISATION OF PARTHO DASGUPTA WHO WAS IN CUSTODY: The Indian
Express report omits to mention the torture undergone by Mr. Dasgupta in judicial custody and the repeated attempts of the Mumbai police to force him to falsely implicate our clients in the alleged TRP scam. It was widely reported that on 15 January 2021, Mr. Dasgupta had to be rushed to the JJ Hospital from Taloja jail and admitted to
ICU on oxygen support.
(v) THE ALLEGATIONS OF TORTURE BY THE DAUGHTER OF PARTHO DASGUPTA: The Indian Express report eclipses the fact that on 16 January 2021, Mr. Partho Dasgupta’s daughter, Pratyusha Dasgupta via her social media handle @pratyushad22 put out a letter addressed to the Prime Minister of India. The post titled: “A helpless daughter’s anguished appeal” explicitly stated Partho Dasgupta was “being severely illtreated. He was in a completely traumatised state and it was apparent that he had been physically and mentally tortured.”
(vi) THE REPORTS OF PARTHO DASGUTPA’S WIFE DECLARING THAT HE WAS BEING
TORTURED TO IMPLICATE ARNAB GOSWAMI: On 16 January 2021, Partho Dasgupta’s wife, Samrajini Dasgupta provided her account to news-portal OpIndia. Her statement therein establishes Partho Dasgupta was being tortured to frame & fix Arnab Goswami and the Republic Media Network. The relevant extract has been reproduced for ease o reference: “…Making stunning allegations, she said that when she did meet Dasgupta
in the hospital, he told her that he was being tortured in jail physically and mentally. Further, she said that in his parched voice, Partho said that the Mumbai Police was paying someone inside Taloja Jail to torture him mentally and physically to implicate Arnab Goswami and Republic TV. “This will not be over till you name Arnab Goswami”, Samrajni claimed Partho said about the individual being paid to torture him. On being
asked whether this person was an inmate or a jail official, Samrajni said, “Partho was in a terrible condition and he could only tell me this much”. While they were being “thrown out” from his room, Samrajni says that Partho cried out, “Don’t leave my. If they take me back to Taloja Jail, they will kill me. They will say everything is ok with me and take me back and kill me…”. This on-record statement of Mr Dasgupta’s wife came AFTER the alleged statement made by him in custody, thereby conclusively establishing the sequence of events and true facts.
The notice has also mentioned that the report of Indian Express amounts to Contempt of Court. You have acted as a judge, jury and executioner in breach of all journalistic ethics and against the well-settled law. By concealing material facts, pronouncing our client guilty of TRP manipulation, even though the matter is pending investigation and is also sub judice, your assertions amount to criminal contempt of court and, it appears, that these are intended to further your own commercial and corporate interests through sensationalism at the cost of our clients’ reputation, and presumably to divert attention away from fact that the BARC audit report of July 2020 points towards the guilt of another channel. Your actions are aimed to discredit a senior journalist, run-down a legitimate and established media house and ensure unfair and undue personal gains in the process.
[Read the Notice]
