In what could spell more trouble for Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, the privilege motion committee of Maharashtra Assembly on Thursday met to discuss violations by Mr. Goswami to the notices sent to him by the House.
“Maharashtra Speaker has sent him seven notices seeking reply to the breach of privilege motion moved against him. Not a single notice has been answered. This itself is another breach of privilege,” said Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik, who had moved the motion against Mr. Goswami in the Assembly. Mr. Goswami is currently under judicial custody after being arrested in a 2018 case of abetment of suicide of architect Anvay Naik.
Mr. Sarnaik said that not only did Mr. Goswami not reply to the notice but he also made the contents of the notice public, which is a serious violation. “We discussed this at the meeting and have decided to take appropriate steps,” said Mr. Sarnaik.
In September 2020, Mr. Sarnaik had moved the motion against Mr. Goswami taking objection to the manner in which the television anchor referred to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and other Cabinet ministers during the coverage of death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. He has been sent repeated notices seeking reply but there has been no response.
Mr. Goswami has however, moved to Supreme Court against the notice and even submitted a copy of the House proceedings in the apex court, which according to senior government officials is a deliberate violation of the legislature’s privileges and power of Assembly Speaker.
