India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, MAY 8— Zee News TV channel’s Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary has been booked by the Kerala police under non-bailable sections for his March 11 program on ‘Jihad’ on his TV show Daily News And Analysis (DNA). An FIR was lodged against him in Kozhikode city of Kerala on May 7. According to the FIR, Sudhir’s program is offending the Muslim religion.
Amish Devgan, anchor of News18 TV channel and host of TV show ‘Aar Paar’, has been booked by the Mumbai Police for allegedly spreading false news on his show on May 1. Reports say the anchor falsely claimed that Muslims offered namaz in a mosque in Kurla area of Mumbai. He is also alleged to have shown a fake video during the show to prove his claim.
Last month, Republic TV’s Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami was booked at several places in the country following his controversial program on Palghar mob lynching. The Mumbai police interrogated him for around 12 hours in the case. Another case was lodged against him for allegedly communalizing the Bandra railway station incident where a huge crowd had gathered on April 14 after a rumour about start of train services.
In the last few years, several TV anchors, including the three mentioned above, have been strongly criticized by members of civil society for their controversial TV programs and provocative language.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan tweeted his reaction on the police cases against TV anchors for controversial programs.
“All these godi media anchors who have spread so much hate by fake news must be brought to account. If they were prosecuted for even half the offences committed by them, they would spend the rest of their lives in jail,” Prashant tweeted.
But senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain termed the case against Sudhir Chaudhary as an “attack on press freedom.”
“The case by Kerala Govt against senior journalist @sudhirchaudhary is an attack on Press Freedom & is aimed at silencing the Media. What is the Communist Party afraid of? The Truth??,” Hussain asked in a tweet.
