Supreme Court grants Arnab Goswami interim bail: Read LIVE ACCOUNT of court proceedings here

The Supreme Court is hearing a special leave petition filed by Republic TV Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami seeking interim bail in the case concerning the suicide of interior designer, Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik..Goswami has 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..No case made out for release under extraordinary writ jurisdiction: Read Bombay High Court's order rejecting Arnab Goswami’s bail plea .The plea by Goswami before the Supreme Court states that his arrest was "illegal, mala-fide and politically motivated as evident from the multifarious proceedings initiated against him, his news channels, Republic and Republic Bharat at the behest of the political dispensation.".The matter is now being heard by a Supreme Court Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee..Live updates from the Supreme Court hearing feature on this page..Supreme Court Bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Indira Banerjee assembles..Senior Advocate Harish Salve appears for Arnab Goswami. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appears for Shiva Sena-led Maharashtra Government.Justice Chandrachud: Regarding Article 136 jurisdiction, you made a prayer for habeas corpus which you did not press. Now, only FIR quashing remains. Now, the only thing you have to look at is allegations in the FIR Let's go through FIR..Salve: When petition was filed, the order of Magistrate was not there. The malice on part of the State needs to be seen at. Court will see the totality. .Salve: My client is a target of collateral damage. .Justice Chandrachud: Others please mute yourself. .Salve: We are past FIR stage and it was lodged way back in 2018 after which it was probed and closure report was filed. Closure report was filed in April 2019. .Justice Chandrachud: its called an A Summary Report (smiles).Salve: I had argued for hour and a half in High Court where I devoted half my time citing cases to show that there could have been no case of abetment to suicide. .Harish Salve explains the FIR to the Court..Justice Chandrachud: Marathi version of FIR is better and I went through it. But the Marathi version of closure report was not filed. .Salve reads as how Anvay Naik had "murdered" his mother and then committed suicide. .Salve: Documents show that amount was paid by the accused (Arnab) to all vendors. Concorde designs (Naik's company) was financially stressed for the last seven years..Salve: It is obvious and non-contentious that some amount of pay off was made..Justice Chandrachud: Was Naik's family aware that A Summary (closure) has been filed? .Harish Salve: Akshita Naik (wife of the deceased Anvay Naik) wrote a nasty letter this year. The person (Anvay Naik) was in financial difficulty and thereafter committed suicide, but how can it be abetment to suicide?.Salve: This matter remained silent till May 2020. April 16 Palghar incident took place. Republic carried out a broadcast on April 21. This Court quashed all FIRs except the Nagpur FIR filed against Goswam.i Now on May 26, a letter was written..Justice Chandrachud: Yes, it mentions reinvestigation twice..Salve: Reinvestigation can only be on order of the court..Salve: Then the Home Minister directs the DGP to reinvestigate the case. The A Summary Report (Closure) needs to be first set aside in a judicial forum..Salve: Goswami was blamed for making inflammatory statements regarding the migrant gathering at Bandra. High Court quashed all proceedings stating prima facie is no offence is made out..Salve: Then Shiv Sena writes a letter to cable operators to ban Republic. Then this letter was held to have no authority of law and that remedy is with TDSAT..Bombay HC declines to entertain Republic TV’s plea alleging that Shiv Sena has threatened Cable Operators to take the channel off air.Salve: Then came the breach of privilege notice against Goswami from Maharashtra Assembly. See what is this breach of privilege is for? In the course of discussion in Assembly, suicide case was brought up and Home Minister said, don't worry we will probe that..Justice Chandrachud: But we are not dealing with the Notice by the Assembly. .Salve: The letter by the Secretary of Assembly to Speaker had earned him a contempt notice from CJI where he attempted to threaten a person from approaching Supreme Court.[Breaking] Supreme Court summons Maharashtra Assembly Assistant Secretary for contempt, "intimidating" Arnab Goswami.Salve: It is appalling that he was held up for referring to the CM in a single worded salutation and this is a breach of privilege? .Salves screen goes blank. Siddharth Bhatnagar chips in to help. Salve resumes reading..Salve: As per Anvay Naik's suicide note, Arnab Goswami owes 83 lakhs where more than 5 crores have been paid to Concorde. Documents show that..Salve: Home Minister assured that he had received a letter from Akshita Naik (wife of the late Anvay Naik) and that an elaborate enquiry will be held. .Salve: On October 6, FIR filed in the complaint of Hansa (the TRP scam case). Then on October 8, there was a press conference by Commissioner blaming Republic .Salve: Hansa Research is a complainant and there is a Writ by Hansa research. We have placed it before you..TRP scam: Hansa Research moves Bombay HC, claims harassment by Crime Branch to make false statements against Republic TV.Justice Chandrachud says he does not have the writ .Harish Salve: i had asked to circulate. .Justice Chandrachud: We have an FIR by Nitin Kashiram .Salve: I am reading from the Writ Petition ("height of incompetence" murmurs). Sorry you don't have it..Harish Salve: Petition says police went to Kandivali police station and saw that an internal complaint was received. Thereafter Vishal Bhandari was arrested. But Republic was named (in the TRP scam case)..Salve: In the chain of events, it came to light that witnesses were called to police station daily and coerced to name Republic .[TRP Scam] "Do not harass them, they are complainants, not accused": Bombay HC notice in plea by Hansa Research alleging Police harassment.Salve: Republic wrote to Hansa saying if there are complaints against us tell us. Hansa said then in an email that if there were complaints then Republic would have been informed..Salve submits that police was not willing to accept any statement from Hansa unless they said the report showing no case against Republic was fake. They threatened the officers with detention and confiscation of mobile phones..Salve: There are aggregations who buy TV time so if you want to advertise you go to these aggregators... No one goes to channel directly. This thing should have been noted..Salve: Now after Bombay High Court order in relation to the Palghar incident, Magistrate issues a notice under Section 112. This was after High Court said there is no offence made out and FIR was stayed. But then Executive Magistrate had the courage to issue this notice.Justice Chandrachud: There are three areas -High Court said complainant was not heard when A Summary report was filed High Court says acceptance of A Summary does not prevent probe under Section 173(a), CrPC Secondly your prayer to quash FIR is alive.Salve: 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? This cannot be assumed to be yet another criminal case. State is not treating it like that..Salve: CJM Alibaug went through all this and stated that arrest of the accused is illegal. Is this not enough to release him on bond? .No case made out prima facie to keep Arnab Goswami in police custody: Chief Judicial Magistrate, Alibaug observes in remand order.Salve: CJM said relation of the accused needs to be established with suicide and until then police custody cannot be given. Then why is his custodial interrogation required? This is a smokescreen to teach someone manners?.Salve: If the lady (referring to Naik's wife) wanted to challenge why didn't she challenge this in last 2 years? .Justice Chandrachud: Plea has been filed in Bombay High Court by Naik challenging the A Summary (Closure) .Salve: Yes, I will argue on merits. But a person is in jail for 6 days for this?.Salve: Prima facie link between accused and suicide cannot be created. The judge should have released him on bond. That was not to be. Hence this plea before you. Not just quashing FIR. .Salve: Let proceedings be transferred, investigate and if he is guilty then send him to jail. Will heavens fall if the man is released?.Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal: What are we arguing today? Palghar or migrant issue? Those matters are listed on a later date in which no reply was filed. But what are we arguing?.Justice Chandrachud: Mr Sibal, let's look at the basis of the matter. One has committed suicide and other's cause of death is unknown..Justice Chandrachud: Allegations against Goswami is that the deceased had a total of 6.45 crores due and Goswami was to pay 88 Lakhs. .Justice Chandrachud: Deceased was suffering from "manasik tadpan" as in FIR or mental stress? For Section 306, abetment there needs to be actual incitement. Does one owes money to another and they commit suicide - would it be abetment? .Justice Chandrachud: Such cases comes between husband and wife. But here is there an active incitement to suicide? Can you say that it is a case for custodial interrogation? High Court has written 56 pages order but had not dealt with the basic question... was an offence made out prima facie?.Sibal: My friend, Salve did not argue this. You have raised an important question. All that Salve argued was assembly notice or palaghar incident. When some allegations are made it needs to be proven..Justice Chandrachud: We are assuming the allegations of FIR as gospel truth but even then, is a case of Section 306 made out? In a matter like this when some dues was not paid, would a suicide mean abetment? Would it not be a travesty of justice if someone is denied bail for this?.Sibal: My lord is saying you accept everything but for a commercial transaction there cannot be abetment to suicide. .Supreme Court: High Court writes pages on why habeas corpus is not maintainable when that prayer was given up in beginning. .Sibal: But this is a matter of investigation.Justice Chandrachud: Look at FIR as it stands. The wife says that husband was suffering from mental pressure. Then she called the accountant of Republic to ask the money... and then suicide note is shown which states that some owners were not paying their legitimate dues..Justice Chandrachud: Let's take this as the suicide note and with everything as it stands. A owes B money, A pays a part and B commits suicide. Then will Section 306 lie here?.Justice Chandrachud: If we don't interfere in this case today we will walk on 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 ....Justice Chandrachud: A woman was hauled up for a tweet in West Bengal as she criticised the lockdown enforcement. She was issued summons under 41A. Is this fair? This cannot happen..Sibal: I am seeing my Lords feel strongly about this .Justice Chandrachud: Forget Arnab Goswami for a moment, we are a Constitutional court..The other day, a young BSC nursing student who was in a relationship with the constable later realised that constable was married. She commits suicide. But then he applied for anticipatory bail and all lower courts denied..Justice Chandrachud: If we as a Constitutional court do not lay down law and protect liberty, then who will? .Salve: Mr Desai argued in a way in the High Court as the epitome of how Public Prosecutor should argue .Justice Chandrachud: No doubt.Justice Chandrachud: Victim is entitled to recourse as in proper and fair probe. But answer is simple. If you don't like a channel then don't watch it..Justice Chandrachud: Government needs to ignore all of this and we don't think elections don't depend on all this. .Kapil Sibal: Article 19 (1)(a) is not an absolute right .Justice Chandrachud: When this matter was before the CJI, CJI said in a subtle way that responsibility is on all the sides.Senior Advocate Amit Desai: You (Justice Chandrachud) have said who is the accused don't matter and what needs to be seen is law. I am most of the time pleading for liberty. Any law laid down today will have serious ramifications for accused, victim and the state..Amit Desai: Main petition for quashing the FIR was scheduled for December 10. High Court had refrained from venturing into the merits of the FIR as no affidavits were filed too. .Desai: The petitioners filed a bail application before the Magistrate and then withdrew this and chose a forum that suited them .Justice Chandrachud: Technicality, this cannot be a ground to deny someone personal liberty. This is not a case of terrorism..Amit Desai: High Court was conscious of the fact that another bail was filed. The sessions court hearing is tomorrow. Reply of the state will be filed today. .Amit Desai: High Court had exercised restraint as a remedy under Section 439 CrPC was open to him. In the context of an investigation, Supreme Court had said let probe continue. In this case, a lot of material has been collected. The complaint was received in May and probe began in October.Amit Desai: We have collected records to prove whether ex facie it proves that such a case of death will be considered a case of abetment of suicide. There is much material in possession of the State to submit in this regard on December 10. .Desai: In an Article 226 jurisdiction, can the High Court enter the Section 306 domain? We are on a principle and your order will have implications. Thousands of quashing FIR is filed and that's why it's cautioned that let Article 226 be exercised in rarest of rare cases..Desai: When there is a remedy available, then no interference is made. Sessions Court is hearing the matter.. Why would the High Court change the hierarchy of the system for a gentleman accused under Section 306? State will submit all details before the session court.Amit Desai: When police custody remand is sought, State has to justify why custody is being sought. .Amit Desai: Magistrate gave judicial custody and this order has not been challenged. Accused filed a bail at 10 pm same day. State got a bail copy from the court and before State could peruse the bail was withdrawn.. Then what could State do?.Desai: Duty of the State is to respect the victim and probe. Victim have filed a substantive petition and she has been continually knocking doors of justice. She only learnt about the closure from a tweet. She started requesting for an inquiry. .Victim (Anvay Naik's wife) had intervened in quashing proceedings and thereafter she was made a party. Bombay High Court then heard the victim's counsel and how victim never received any notice. .Desai: There are murders, FIR is registered, criminal not found, A Summary is filed. A year later the accused is found then the A Summary need not be challenged. It takes time for them to probe and thus A summary is filed in the meanwhile..Here, saying that Court's permissions is required is a serious question on the State's ability to probe a case. In unfinished investigation where accused is not found or held, A Summary (Closure) is filed. .Desai: Petitioner is not remediless... if under Article 226, bail has to be granted, then we can convert all High Courts in the country into Bail Courts. .Desai: Investigation is going on and liberty is not taken away. Bail under Section 439 CrPC was filed. Then withdrawal and has been filed again. Here his bail plea is being heard in four days whereas others are languishing for years..Amit Desai: If Sessions Judge is hearing the case then why should this Court interfere now? There is no prayer for bail made and only a prayer to stay Bombay High Court order has been made. .Desai: More 164 CrPC statements have been recorded, more than 16 witnesses have been examined. .Justice Chandrachud: When an enterprise hands out a contract, the actual enforcement is by the labour contractor. May be the man did not pay a bit, will you haul up someone at the topmost and say that you have incited the crime?.Amit Desai: What needs to be probed is the commission of offence which led to the suicide of the person. Police has to probe circumstances what led to the suicide and that establishes abetment to suicide..Justice Chandrachud: There are only documentary evidences .Desai: No, no, life is full of surprises. Handwriting experts opinion is there. Further material on email is there. 164 crpc statement has been filed and witnesses examined. .Salve: Meanwhile, keep him in jail?.Amit Desai: The bail judge will look at the material and will take a call and the bail is slotted for tomorrow .Desai: A Summary (Closure Report) was filed without hearing the counsel of the victim or the victim herself. A Summary was heard and decided ex-parte.Senior Advocate CU Singh appears for Anvay Naik's wife: Please see the list of dates..Justice Chandrachud: We have already heard all of this. .Justice Chandrachud: When did your client come to know about the a summary? .Singh: We didn't know about it till May 2020 .Justice Chandrachud: See page 128 of the paper book. Your client was unaware that proceedings were closed?.Senior Advocate CU Singh: We were never served the closure report when it's mandatory that the first informant has to be informed. .Justice Chandrachud: Why didn't you approach the Investigation Officer? .CU Singh: We can place on affidavit that we did. On November 9 Bombay High Court gave its order and then Sessions Court was moved. Now it will be heard tomorrow. .CU Singh: Please see the letter, which my client had written. It was not for re-investigation but to decide on the complaint initially filed..Singh: Power of the police to re-investigate after an A Summary is absolute. That report was filed when nothing concrete was found.Singh: Sentiments expressed by the Court is to be cherished by all. But here it's not about Goswami but because of the fact that he has already moved a bail application yet to be heard. What kind of a message will it send and short circuit an entire process? .Singh: Issue of prima facie case etc will be heard on December 10 (by Bombay High Court). The suicide was after a two year trauma. At the end of the day this is not a case of intervention of Supreme Court, this writ petition is an overreach when his option lies at a lower court.Sibal: The investigation conducted so far is not before you and thus if you intervene now it will set a dangerous precedent. .Amit Desai: You had asked where was the victim after A Summary (Closure)? Why did the accused (Arnab) not move the court to quash the FIR in the interim?.Salve: Here it is being argued that citizens liberty is not important and procedural hierarchy has to be given importance. .Salve: I will tell you what is going on now. He has been arrested on the basis of FIR. Magistrate has nothing more. What they have done in Hansa they will do here. They will keep coercing witnesses and it will go on. .Salve: Does court have jurisdiction? Yes, it has. Challenge to TRP is still pending, Mumbai Police is accused of coercing witnesses. 7 days the man is being incarcerated. Constitutional Court should have said not one more day. .Salve: If he is needed again then cancellation of bail application will be proffered. Jail is an exception, not a rule. Which court can I go to say I am journalist and say things that are unpalatable? Can I prove that? Yes I can..Harish Salve: Look at the discussion in assembly.. it shows political system is angry with me. .You have yourself said earlier identical FIRs were filed against him by political parties all across India. How many times have you seen magistrate passes an order in violation of the division bench of the High Court. State says its just another case but this is just a hogwash.Salve: Desai asks me why I did not move to quash FIR earlier. Because Palghar didn't happen then. Then I was not afraid of Police but now I am afraid of Police. .Justice Chandrachud: How long would Mr Rohatgi take? .Justice Chandrachud: Let's take a 45-minute break and resume at 2 pm. .Senior Advocate Sankaranarayanan: If anybody deserves a break its you to have your birthday lunch. .(Today is Justice Chandrachud's birthday. He was born on November 11, 1959).Justice Chandrachud: When I was a young lawyer, my senior had told me that judges tend to talk a lot after lunch because the best way to keep awake was to talk lot during the hearing. I was a young member at the bar, so I just nodded..Proceedings continue after lunch. .CU Singh: When you asked about time lag since November... Writ petition was filed by Naik's daughter and withdrawn due to some developments. Now the plea filed is pending..Singh: There have been threats to wife and daughter of Naik which happened after A Summary. It's not a case where court was not approached. High Court did not go into quashing or malafide as no reply was filed. That's why its slotted for December 10..Singh: Now we didn't argue on malafide in High Court but we are doing so here under Article 136. We cannot go into the mala fide now. .Salve: Let me set record straight. As far as Bombay High Court is concerned, we were given liberty to approach Sessions court under Section 439, CrPC..Salve: We had moved for bail on November 8 and Bombay High Court order was on November 9. But on November 9, the public prosecutor filed an application before the magistrate and says bail needs to be heard later and revision of police custody needs to be decided first..Salve: Since Mr. Amit Desai has opened up this, I have shown Minister's order of May. Supreme Court judgments say Magistrate's power cannot be taken away to re-order a probe or set aside an A Summary report (Closure report). .Harish Salve: It's a dangerous precedent to say that after a magistrate has accepted an A Summary (Closure) that the Executive has ordered a re-investigation. .Salve: Truth has a nasty habit of sneaking out. They state that since police has been directed to reinvestigate they are doing so. Now, who ordered this? .Justice Chandrachud: Home Minister (Anil Deshmukh)..Salve: Which is per se illegal. .Salve: The police was directed to investigate and they are telling the Magistrate that they filed a closure report but they are not saying that report was accepted. .Salve: Now on the basis of this, Section 164 CrPC was invoked and Arnab was arrested. November 4, Section 164 statements were being recorded. The magistrate has clearly said, I find no connection of the accused with the crime..Salve: Can a Constitutional Court not look into this since Section 439 CrPC remedy is there when we know they will first seek police custody and then go for bail? .Salve: Secondly, for abetment, there are judgments after judgments which show that mens rea (intention) is the most important aspect on part of the accused. Where is mens rea (intention) in this case?.Salve: For abetment, there must be direct and indirect act of the commission of the offence. If tomorrow, a person commits suicide in Maharashtra and blames Government, then will the Chief minister be arrested? .Salve: We need to apply the proximity test to prove a case under Section 306 for abetment to suicide..Salve: Only on principles, this is so wrong. .He reads a judgment to show that there should be clear mens rea (intention) for abetment, especially when there existed no personal relationship between accused and victim..Salve: Arnab was arrested with 20 to 30 armed cops and taken to Raigad. Not only habeas corpus, we had also filed a plea to challenge the order to re-investigate the case.Salve: Is Goswami a terrorist, is there a murder charge on him ? Why can't he be give bail?.Salve: This is where allegations of malafide creep in. High Court made a gross mistake where High Court said quashing proceedings need to be heard or is yet to set aside the A Summary report. Am I asking something extraordinary that I need to go to sessions?.Justice Chandrachud: For other co-accused, will fresh submissions be made? Please don't repeat .Gopal Sankaranarayanan (for Feroze Shaikh): The three accused have no interaction with each other, who had given work of their office to one person who subcontracted it.Sankaranarayanan: Three individuals are accused to have abetted a suicide, who don't know each other, when he himself said he was harassed by creditors. Feroze Shaikh is a Director of the animation studio..CU Singh: No argument was made by them in High Court and it was only Salve who argued .Sankaranarayanan: That cannot be an estoppel against me..Justice Chandrachud: You gave job to one company and then that company asked Concorde to do the job. .Sankaranarayanan: Yes, liabilities cannot be extrapolated like this where multiple organisations are involved..Sankaranarayanan: Please check Section 107, IPC. .Justice Chandrachud: But these cases are on point of quashing. .Sankaranarayanan reads the Living Wills case: "It cannot be one isolated incident but a series of incidents which lead to the commission of the suicide.".Sankaranarayanan: Here there was no whisper of my client in the letter by his (Naik's) wife. .He argues how executive cannot order investigation when Magistrate has accepted a closure report. .Sankaranarayanan: Mr. Desai has said probe was reopened, then such probe cannot be reopened without an an order of the court .Mukul Rohatgi: My client (Sarda) and all three musketeers are unconnected. I don't know Goswami and I don't know Shaikh. My client is 25 year old and director of a company. Work was done some time ago. The contractor was asked to deposit GST and a case is pending in Calcutta..Mukul Rohatgi: I have no connection with Naik and FIR shows no cognizable offence. .Mukul Rohatgi: Legal position now is that order of arrest was illegal and I was entitled under Article 226 (of the Constitution) or Section 482 (CrPC) to have my arrest declared as illegal..Rohatgi: Only power which magistrate has is to order further investigation under 173. He has no power for order fresh or re-investigation. He is prohibited. .Rohatgi: If I am correct on this the reinvestigation after home ministers order was illegal and ultra vires. My remand was illegal and I have a right to be released Minister had no jurisdiction to sit over a court order..Rohatgi: Somebody can go to Minister and say open a case and it's opened. Why is the Home Minister sitting on appeal?.CU Singh: Read from beginning. .Rohatgi: I will not. .Justice Chandrachud: When lawyers asks us to read a line, we by habit read from the beginning..Rohatgi: Home Minister said on May 26 that it will be reinvestigated but case was in October. All of this is in mala fide against Goswami and I have been caught in the crossfire..Rohatgi: Even further investigation after chargesheet is filed is ordered only by court order. This is a case of closure. Further investigation can be ordered when there is a live report under Section 173. When closure report is filed then it can only be a fresh investigation..Justice Chandrachud: In case of an A Summary (Closure), offence is committed. After A Summary is submitted, then is the police deprived of authority to investigate the case? .Salve: Why cannot an order be obtained from magistrate by showing fresh cause? Will heavens fall?.Justice Chandrachud: In a case where nothing is found yet then how does the police be deprived of its power to investigate, even if closure report filed? .Mukul Rohatgi: Reinvestigation can be ordered only by the constitutional court and if that be so, then the arrest was illegal per se..Mukul Rohatgi: In this case investigation needs to be stayed and Minister's order is without jurisdiction. And if that is without jurisdiction, probe needs to be stayed. High Court should have done so under Section 482 of CrPC. .Rohatgi: If a man says, my case is pending for 10 years, then will the judge be put in jail? This is how cases need to be dealt?.Sankaranarayanan: If after four months an A Summary is filed in this case then again after six months they can again come and say they have more evidence.Justice Chandrachud: This Court cannot go into A Summary report now. If we say something, case before High Court will be over. Let them look into it. What we are seeing is that can bail be granted or not..Justice Chandrachud: We have to see that rights are protected on both sides. .Kapil Sibal: What we are deciding today is an extraordinary case and it's not done so. Unless the man involved here is extraordinary.Sibal: What is an FIR it is an information. Either you probe it or quash it. How can bail be granted only on the basis of the FIR today, there is evidence on record. There is no basis in law to grant bail on the basis of the FIR..Sibal: if you say there is no offence is committed then, quash the FIR itself. .Chandrachud: That is coming before the High Court.Sibal: there are several judgments which say intention is relevant.. You cannot say I will read FIR and grant bail. Then this principle will be followed in all High Courts. It's a dangerous precedent.Sibal: There is a difference between A Summary and a Closure report. Under Section 32 of the Evidence Act, what had been filed is not a Closure Report but an A Summary report. If there is no closure report then a power to probe remains with the police.Sibal: Wait for day after tomorrow and don't lay down this precedent. We know what is going on in your mind but we know when extraordinary orders are passed in extraordinary cases, then it has repercussions. .Sibal: Probe papers are not before you, no reply was filed in High Court, Bail has to be decided within 4 days. Why should you look at an FIR and say that an offence is not there? That will not be the correct process..Desai: Power of the State to direct investigation is distinct from the power of the court to direct investigation... In Nirmal Singh Kahlon case it was stated that order of probe by State stands on a different footing..Desai: It is one thing to say court will have supervisory jurisdiction of the Court on a probe, but it cannot be said that the IO cannot even probe the case without an express order from the court. .Amit Desai: If you make an exception, it will have grave ramification on the administration of the criminal justice system..Desai: If the investigation is not stayed, then power under Chapter 12 of CrPC continues. Then the process of probe also continues. If the probe is not stayed, then there cannot be a stay on arrest.Desai: The principle in Article 226 was judicial restraint. If every accused comes and says FIR does not disclose an offence and bail be granted then it will be a different situation of courts and it will disrupt the entire scheme of criminal justice system..Desai: When it comes to mens rea, do not halt the probe as the investigation is what will reveal the mental state or intentions... .Desai: The wife and daughter of Naik have been submitted that they are harassed on calls. The first respondent had also got into an altercation with the deceased..Desai: Will you intervene under Article 136 when the matter is pending before the Sessions judge so that judge at sessions court could not decide the applications and grant bail? There are no aspersions on sessions judge..Desai: Please go through the order of the Magistrate in Marathi and the translation is not correct before you. The judge did not say arrest is illegal. It was only an argument by the accused and it was noted..CU Singh: Rohatgi relies on the remand report and says it was stated "reinvestigated". However the original Marathi says "pudil tapaas". So incorrect translations have been placed..Singh: The remand order of judicial custody has not been challenged anywhere.. but all three have filed bail applications. The only statutory remedy is by the Sessions Court passing a bail order after the remand order.. .Singh: Court sat on a Saturday and heard it all day. Judgment was reserved and said the reserved order does not come in way of applying for bail. High Court gave an extraordinary order and said sessions court will decide now. If you interfere then it will send the most incorrect signal..Sachin Patil reads the remand order in Marathi by the magistrate. .Justice Chandrachud: So it means that judge said "arrest appears to illegal" .Patil: Yes but it is being read as it is "illegal" now.Patil continues reading in Marathi as Rahul Chitnis urges him to do so. .Justice Chandrachud: Judge says prima facie violation of Section 306 is not made out thus police custody cannot be granted. .Salve: After a case diary, this is the finding of judicial authority. Judicial custody is based on this FIR. They sought the same on the basis of this FIR. Now when we seek bail, then you say we cannot go to the FIR .Salve: The allegation is Goswami did not pay him (Naik). Assuming it was not paid, was there an intention by Goswami to drive the victim to suicide ?.Kapil Sibal cites the Siddique Kappan case and how the case was sent to High Court and yet he is languishing in jail. .Supreme Court asks Kerala journalist arrested in Hathras to approach Allahabad HC for bail, keeps petition pending.Senior Advocate Mahalaxmi Pavani: I want safety and security for Goswami while he is in jail. .Justice Chandrachud: You want him to continue in jail?.All counsels wish Justice Chandrachud a happy birthday. .Justice Chandrachud: Sense of oneness with the bar and bench is a strength that drives me.Justice Chandrachud states he will discuss with Justice Indira Banerjee for a while and finalise the order. Judges leave video conferencing briefly. Order to follow..Justice Chandrachud seeks to know what were the prayers made before the Bombay High Court in the interim application..Order.Justice DY Chandrachud: Leave granted. Appeals before us arrive from a verdict by Bombay High Court division bench to which an application for interim bail was rejected. In view of submissions made by rival parties, judgment shall follow with reasons.Justice Chandrachud: We hold High Court was incorrect in not granting bail. Arnab Goswami and two other accused, (they should) be released on interim bail on a bond of Rs 50,000. Commissioner of Police is directed to ensure order is followed immediately. .Justice Chandrachud: Appellants are directed to cooperate in the investigation... let personal bond be executed before jail superintendent.

Supreme Court grants Arnab Goswami interim bail: Read LIVE ACCOUNT of court proceedings here

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