Mumbai Sessions Court dismisses defamation complaint by DCP of Mumbai Police against Arnab Goswami and Republic TV [READ ORDER]

The Deputy Commissioner of Mumbai Police- DCP Abhishek Trimukhe had previously lodged a criminal defamation complaint against Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami over some statements made during the coverage of the Sushant Singh Rajput death case.  It was however dismissed by a sessions court

The court dismissed Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Abhishek Trimukhe's complaint on April 1, 2021, but a comprehensive order was released on Thursday (April 8, 2021).

ARG Outlier Media Pvt Ltd, which owns Republic Media Network, and Goswami's wife, who is a director within the organization, were also listed in Trimukhe's complaint. The complainant said that Goswami and others misinterpreted him in most of their tweets.

In his lawsuit, Trimukhe said that Goswami made defamatory remarks about him on the channel Republic Bharat, which were then broadcast on the channel's YouTube channel. 

The remarks were made during a panel discussion about Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty's phone records about actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death.

During the initial investigation into Rajput's death, Trimukhe said that Goswami broadcast some material about him and Chakraborty, an alleged perpetrator in the case. Goswami, according to Trimukhe, tried to provide the impression that the Mumbai Police, including Trimukhe, had made a bargain with Chakraborty to save her from the police probe.

He experienced a lack of prestige and goodwill as a result of this, and he indicated that it would take a long time to recover. Trimukhe requested that the Court take cognizance of the crime under Indian Penal Code ‘Sections 499, 500, 501 (criminal defamation) and 109 (punishment for abetment of offence) and 34 (conspiracy)’. He also demanded compensation from Goswami.

According to ‘Section 199 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure’ (Prosecution for Defamation), the public prosecutor must file a lawsuit in such cases. The current lawsuit may have been brought solely by the public prosecutor, which is not the case here. 

The case cannot be pursued further because it was not filed by the public prosecutor, the court said, adding that the DCP has the option of filing a complaint with a competent magistrate. According to the court's provision, some categories of people, including public employees, can file a complaint with a sessions court after gaining approval from the state.

"He has the recourse to form a case before the competent Magistrate and his filing the complaint except though the general public prosecutor doesn't confer any authority over this Court to take cognizance of the alleged offence", the Court added.

[READ ORDER]