NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday allowed bail to senior journalist Kommineni Srinivasa Rao, arrested by the Andhra Pradesh Police for allegedly making disparaging remarks against greenfield capital city Amaravati on his live show.
A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Manmohan granted the relief to the 70-year-old journalist, who had moved the apex court questioning validity of his arrest.
The court opined it was necessary that the petitioner's journalistic rights and his fundamental right to freedom of speech were protected.
He was arrested on June 9.
The bench directed the release of Rao noting that he did not make the statement on his show but it was one of the panelists who made the alleged derogatory remarks.
The court asked the state government counsel, how the petitioner could be arrested for statements made by someone else.
"Someone else is making the statement. How can this be," the bench asked.
“He was goading and abetting the man who was making that statement. He was laughing," the state government counsel senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Sidharth Luthra replied.
The court, however, allowed the relief, saying “We direct that the petitioner be released in the FIR subject to conditions imposed by the trial court".
The bench also asked Rao to refrain from making any derogatory statement on his show or allow anyone else to make the same.
