The 2 FIRs filed against the Republic TV Editor-in-chief, Arnab Goswami were suspended on Tuesday by the Bombay HC for allegedly making inflammatory comments. The HC said that no offence was disclosed on the face of it. The FIRs were in regard to the comments made about the Palghar lynching incident and migrants gathering in large numbers in Bandra area of Mumbai during lockdown.

The bench had observed that the comments made by Goswami though targeted at congress and its president Sonia Gandhi, didn’t actually create public disharmony and/or incite violence among various religious groups.

“We cannot have the spectacle of a Damocles’ sword hanging over the head of a journalist while conducting a public debate. India is now a mature democracy,” the HC said.

“Seventy years into our republic, we cannot be seen to be skating on thin ice so much that the mere mention of a place of worship will lead to animosity or hatred among religious communities causing upheaval and conflagration on the streets.
Subscribing to such a view would stifle all legitimate discussions and debates in the public domain,” the court further added.