The way journalist Arnab Goswami was detained, and the way he was tortured in jail, is so clear that the Maharashtra government is wielding an axe on its own feet.
The Government wanted to show the influence of her power by detaining Arnab and intimidating him, but the way the Congress persecuted Chief Minister Narendra Modi and brought him to the post of Prime Minister, the party wrote the story of his own destruction, the same way Shiv Sena Arrested Arnab and made him the star of journalism overnight.
Until a few years ago, only English speaking Indians knew Arnab, but now all know him. He has made his mark abroad also. When he was out from Taloja jail with ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, it was as if there was a flood of people to welcome him, as if an important politician was free.
The manner in which the state police force exploited Arnab Goswami at the behest of the government to pacify their frustration against Arnab has laid the foundation for his destruction. This did not benefit the government; on the contrary, it has damaged her image so much that she cannot improve in any situation. Police should have avoided politically motivated arrest of Arnab.
The Supreme Court lashed out at the Maharashtra government by saying that no government can have the power to crush freedom of expression.
Today, as popular as Arnab Goswami is, there will not be many popular politicians in the country. The way the Shiv Sena has exploited him; it seemed that they could go to any extent to threaten Arnab. The breath of an injured lion is more dangerous than its roar.
Be fair, Shiv Sena has transformed Arnab into a great hero, which will prove disastrous for his government and his party in the future.
The purpose of law in society is to preserve the moral sanctity that binds the society. Therefore, the legal profession is a noble profession as it is the upholder and protector of law. It is a service-oriented profession, which aims to serve society. A person practicing law has to practice in the spirit of honesty and not in the spirit of mischief making or money getting. If this is true then Salve proved this few occasions.
The legal profession is not a noble profession. It is a business or a trade. If this is true then top politician lawyers have proved this by charging heavy fees from the cases related to the Governments such as Maha Aghadi Sarkar. Government pays these fees collected from the public as the taxes.
Harish Salve strengthened the case by going fully of Arnab’s case. Then he came to the front foot and increased the trouble from Maharashtra Government to Mumbai Police, due to these arguments of Harish Salve, the court granted bail to Arnab. Harish Salve’s advocacy has once again played a role.
The Maharashtra government has decided to pay Rs 10 lakhs per hearing to senior advocate Kapil Sibal and Rs 1.5 lakhs per hearing to state government lawyer Rahul Chitnis for effectively representing the state government in connection with a criminal writ petition filed by Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami.
The Home department of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra has passed an order approving funds for the payment of fees to senior advocate at Supreme Court and Congress leader Kapil Sibal and Maharashtra Government lawyer Rahul Chitnis.
The order states that Kapil Sibal is to be paid Rs 10 lakh per appearance and pre-hearing discussion. The Maharashtra Government lawyer Rahul Chitnis is to be paid Rs 1.5 lakh per appearance and pre-hearing discussion.
Arnab Goswami had filed a criminal writ petition against Maharashtra government earlier this year after several FIRs were filed against him following the broadcast of the prime time show on his channel where he questioned the silence of Sonia Gandhi over the horrifying lynching of two Hindu sadhus in Palghar and called her by her maiden name “Antonio Maino”.
Arnab Goswami, the Republic TV editor-in-Chief who had been languishing in the jails of Maharashtra for over 6 days now, owing to Maha Vikas Aghadi and especially Shiv Sena’s animosity against Goswami has finally been granted bail. After the high courts refused to grant Goswami bail, the matter had reached the Supreme Court today. Goswami had challenged a Bombay High Court order of November 9 which had rejected the bail plea while asking him to move Sessions court for regular bail.
Appearing for Goswami, senior lawyer Harish Salve put forth some valid points that showed the Maharashtra government’s malice as the reason for his client’s arrest and not the abetment to suicide case. The vacation bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee during the hearing gave a nice verbal thrashing to Kapil Sibal, as well as the Maharashtra government.
The court in its judgment said, “We hold HC was incorrect in not granting bail,”
Ace lawyer, Harish Salve who represented Republic TV Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami in the 2018 abetment to suicide case in the Supreme Court of India did not even charge a penny for his labour after brilliantly defending Arnab and taking the Maha Vikas Aghadi to the cleaners. Speaking at his 9 PM debate show, Arnab revealed that Salve fought the case pro-bono and that he was deeply grateful to him.
“I must place on record, my deepest personal and professional gratitude for the legal colossus. One of India’s foremost jurists Mr Harish Salve, who fought with all his heart and knowledge for me. I am deeply grateful. We owe deep gratitude to Harish Salve…I don’t know how many of you all know this but Mr Harish Salve does not charge us even one rupee for any of his valuable appearances for the court. He appears pro-bono for us. That is something I can’t even express my gratitude and thanks for,”
I remember Pakistan paid 20 crores for a losing cause at ICJ, India paid 1 rupee to Harish Salve: Pakistan paid Rs 20 crores as legal fees to its Cambridge educated lawyer, Khawar Qureshi to represent the Pakistan in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case.
Harish Salve, the Indian lawyer charges around Rs 30 lakhs daily to represent clients. However, in order to protect India’s sovereignty and citizens against the ill intents of the neighbour, he had charged just Re. 1.
‘Come and collect your Re 1 fee for Kulbhushan Jadhav case’: Sushma Swaraj told Harish Salve before cardiac arrest in Aug 7, 2019.
“Let us assume there is an FIR which is three years old why will you arrest him and then put him in Taloja with hardened criminals. Is Goswami a terrorist, is there a murder charge on him? This cannot be assumed to be yet another criminal case. Will heavens fall if this man is released. Jail is an exception, not a rule.” argued Salve
What stood out in the judgment was the highest court of law’s observation that if the court did not interfere today, then it would set us all on the path of destruction.
“If we don’t interfere in this case today we will walk on the path of destruction. If left to me I won’t watch the channel and you may differ in ideology but Constitutional courts will have to protect such freedoms,” said Justice Chandrachud.
