‘My life is under threat!’ Arnab gets arrested as Uddhav govt’s witch hunt crosses the line

Come Sunday morning, extremely disturbing visuals of senior journalist and Republic Media Network founder Arnab Goswami started flooding social media. In multiple visuals posted by Republic’s official handle, it is seen that Goswami is being transferred to Taloja jail in a blacked-out police van, insulated from all sides so as to prevent the media from picking up sound-bites from Goswami, who despite being under judicial custody and not that of the Maharashtra police, is being treated like a criminal of the worst kind, even as the Bombay High Court is all set to pronounce its order on bail for the senior journalist tomorrow.

“My life is under threat. My life is under threat. Not being allowed to speak to lawyers. They assaulted me this morning. Woke me up at 6 am, said I can’t speak to my lawyers. Please tell people of India my life is under threat,” Arnab Goswami can be heard asking for help from inside the van, even as the police acts brazenly to prevent Goswami from being heard by the media. In another video, Arnab is seen pleading in front of the media to take his message to the Supreme Court, so that his life can be saved. “I want the Supreme Court to help me, I want the Supreme Court to help me,” Goswami can be heard saying in the video.

It must be remembered that Arnab’s lawyers have alleged that he is being continuously physically assaulted by the Maharashtra police. Bar and Bench yesterday reported Arnab’s legal team as saying, “During the course of his arrest and while being transferred to Alibaug in a police van and in the custody of the police, the Petitioner suffered a 6-inch-deep gash on his left hand, a serious injury to his spinal cord, was hit by a heavy uniform police officer’s boot, was not allowed to wear shoes throughout, suffered vein injuries and was not even given access to drinking water. Additionally, the Petitioner was also forced to consume certain liquid by the police officers guarding him and choked as a result thereof.”

Even during his arrest, Arnab Goswami was dragged out of his house forcefully, and his family was also manhandled. Arnab has been petitioning several courts for bail, and the Bombay High Court will finally tomorrow pronounce its order on the matter. Goswami has been arrested in a 2018 abetment to suicide case of one Anvay Naik, who had named the senior journalist and two others in his suicide note. In 2019, interestingly, the said case against Arnab was closed by the Maharashtra police themselves, due to lack of evidence. However, last month, without the requisite permissions from the court, the police reopened the case. This had led the Alibaug court to call Goswami’s arrest “prima facie illegal”.

As a matter of fact, the closure report filed by the police last year no less than exonerates Goswami and two others, saying that they are not linked to each other in any way, and did not commit any act that made living unbearable for Naik or left him with no option but to commit suicide. The report added, “No evidence has been found so far in the investigation that the action on the part of the three accused named in the suicide note until now, individually or together, made it unbearable for the deceased to continue living or had no option but to commit suicide.”

Yet, for the Maharashtra police to treat Goswami in the most horrific of ways and make him a victim of brute state force bears testimony to the fact that he is being intimidated and punished only as part of a larger vendetta campaign launched against Republic Media Network in the state.