The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Telugu journalist Kommineni Srinivas Rao (KSR), who was arrested on June 9 in connection with alleged offensive remarks made by a panellist against the State of Andhra Pradesh during his television show on Sakshi TV.
The Bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Manmohan passed the order on a writ petition filed by KSR challenging his arrest and remand.
The Andhra Pradesh police arrested Rao from Hyderabad on June 9. He was later remanded to judicial custody.
Appearing for the petitioner, Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave submitted that the remarks were not made by Rao but by a guest on his show.
The Apex Court asked Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the state of Andhra Pradesh, how could the petitioner be arrested for the statements made by someone else.
Rohatgi alleged that Rao goaded and abetted the man making that statement. He also laughed during the show, noted the Senior Counsel.
The Bench observed that when someone made an outrageous statement, people laughed it off. They couldn’t be termed co-conspirators. This was happening everyday.
Rohatgi argued that this was not a case of somebody being a standby. Rao was not a bystander, he was a part of the same channel. He shouldn’t have said things like this was a capital of sex workers.
Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra, also representing the State, submitted that the statement that Andhra Pradesh was in the forefront when it came to sex work, was defamatory.
Noting that Rao’s bail plea was pending before the Andhra Pradesh High Court, Luthra said the petitioner should approach the High Court.
The top court of the country, however, ordered the release of the senior journalist on the grounds that the statement was not made by him. Besides, his journalistic participation in a live TV show deserved to be protected so that the freedom of speech was also protected in the process, it noted.
The Bench recorded in it’s order that the 70-year-old TV anchor was hosting ‘Live with KSR’ on Sakshi TV on June 6, when one of the panelists made an allegedly defamatory statement. The petitioner did not object to it, rather was seen laughing. As per the Counsels appearing for the State of Andhra Pradesh, the petitioner abetted the crime by laughing and being a mute spectator.
Considering that the petitioner himself did not make any such statement, the Apex Court ordered his release subject to the conditions imposed by the trial court.
The Bench directed the petitioner not to involve himself in any defamatory statement either by himself or by allowing others to make such statements in his presence in the show being anchored/hosted by him.
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