States can’t use criminal law as a tool to harass citizens: SC
Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com
New Delhi:28.11.2020
The Supreme Court on Friday spoke firmly about the sanctity of personal liberty and said it was the sacred duty of courts to ensure that the state did not use criminal laws as a weapon to selectively harass citizens while considering the case relating to an FIR registered by Maharashtra government against TV anchor Arnab Goswami.
“Courts must be alive to the need to safeguard public interest in ensuring that the due enforcement of criminal law is not obstructed. The fair investigation of crime is an aid to it. Equally, it is the duty of courts across the spectrum—the district judiciary, the high courts and the Supreme Court— to ensure that criminal law does not become a weapon for the selective harassment of citizens,” a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee said.
The bench came down on the Bombay HC for not seeing the context of the case and said it had abdicated its constitutional duty as a protector of liberty. The SC said Goswami would be protected from arrest for four weeks even if the high court did not quash the FIR against him. The SC’s observations came in the case relating to the FIR for abetment to suicide against Goswami. The bench reiterated its November 11 decision granting interim bail to Goswami and said prima facie there was no connect between the complaint leading to the FIR and the suicide charge abetment against Goswami.
“Prima facie, on the application of the test which has been laid down by this court in a consistent line of judgments, it cannot be said that Goswami was guilty of having abetted the suicide,” the bench said.
Prima facie no abetment to suicide charge against TV anchor Arnab Goswami, rules Supreme Court
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