Abetment to suicide case: Maharashtra Govt defends journalist Arnab Goswami's arrest

Shiv Sena leader and Transport Minister Anil Parab said that the BJP is worried as “their pet parrot, in whom many lives are trapped, is now in the cage”.

While Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut said, “if anybody has committed a crime, he would be punished.”

Targeting the BJP, Parab sought to know whether Goswami is “their party member” and asked why they did not protest when another journalist and former head of Tehelka news, Tarun Tejpal, was arrested a few years ago.

Party MP Priyanka Chaturvedi wondered if there is “any IPC law or Press Freedom” by which journalists are allowed exemption from payments of their dues, referring to the double-suicide of architect Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik on May 5, 2018 in Raigad.

“What cases are applicable on defaulters who do not pay up terms agreed upon in an agreement? What is non-payment of dues leads to the aggrieved party taking extreme step of taking own life and in the suicide note mention their reason,” she asked.

Chaturvedi also sought to know whether journalists are allowed ‘exemption’ from the death probe in which they are explicitly named and whether the law should apply or not, just as Naik’s widow Akshata and daughter Adnya stated in their media briefing in Raigad.

Slamming Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his statements on the issue, state Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said, “Democracy is shamed when accused is not even called for recording his statement at the place of the incident.”

“The (then) Devendra Fadnavis government ensured that police ignored the suicide note of Anvay Naik. Utterly shameful. The mother and daughter -- who lost their near and dear ones -- were denied justice by Fadnavis government, even though there is a clear mention of the accused (Goswami) in the suicide note, just because he’s close to the BJP and drives its agenda,” Mr Sawant said sharply.