LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court has rejected the bail petition of a reporter accused of abetting suicide, saying a journalist shouldn’t dramatise incidents and create news by putting a person’s life in danger.
The bench of Justice Vikas Kunvar Srivastav made this observation while rejecting bail of a Lucknow-based journalist, Shamim Ahmad, who’s accused of prodding a mentally and financially distressed man to immolate himself outside the Uttar Pradesh Assembly last year and filming the act for live telecast.
The judge said, “A journalist is not expected to dramatize a sensational and horrifying incident and make news by putting his actor in danger of death. A journalist keeps an eye on anticipated or sudden events and informs people through media without tampering. This is his business.” The bench also directed the trial court to conclude the case within a year, while clarifying that it need not be swayed by its observation in the bail rejection order.
Journalists Shamim and co-accused Naushad Ahmad had allegedly contacted a tenant facing eviction and induced him to set himself ablaze in front of the Vidhan Bhawan.
Additional government advocate Prem Prakash said, “On October 19, 2020, Zaved Khan asked his tenant, Surendra Chakraborty, to immolate himself if he was unable to vacate the accommodation. Then journalists Shamim and Naushad approached Chakraborty and told him that if his immolation is telecast on television, it will highlight his plight and halt his eviction. This was stated in a FIR filed in Hussainganj police station by the deceased’s wife.”
Opposing Shamim’s bail plea, the government advocate said, while the man poured kerosene set himself on fire, the journalist, who was camping in front of the Vidhan Bhawan as per plan, kept video-graphing the immolation and did not once budge to douse the flames enveloping the man. Policemen were also seen trying to rescue Chakraborty, who later died in hospital on October 24, he added. The court order was uploaded on Thursday.
