Summary is AI-generated, newsroom-reviewed
- Kommineni Srinivasa Rao was arrested following a derogatory remark made by a panellist on his show.
- The Supreme Court emphasised the need to protect journalistic rights and freedom of speech.
- It noted that Mr Rao did not make the statement himself.
A journalist from Andhra Pradesh has been granted bail by the Supreme Court after being arrested for derogatory comment made by a panellist on his show. The Supreme Court noted that the man’s journalistic rights and freedom of speech need to be protected.
Kommineni Srinivasa Rao, a senior journalist working for Sakshi TV, had been arrested on Monday after VVR Krishnam Raju, a journalist and political analyst, made a derogatory remark about women from Andhra Pradesh’s capital Amaravati.
Hearing a petition by Mr Rao, 70, challenging his arrest, a bench of Justices PK Mishra and Manmohan asked, “How can a case be against him when someone else made the statement?”
“The petitioner himself did not make the statement and his journalistic rights need to be protected so that his freedom of speech is also protected. We direct that the petitioner be released in the FIR subject to conditions imposed by the trial court,” the bench said.
It also, however, asked Rao not to make a defamatory statement himself or allow others to do so on his show.
The bench asked senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the Andhra Pradesh government, why Mr Rao was arrested and Mr Rohatgi said he was “goading and abetting” Mr Raju, who made the statement, and was laughing instead of stopping him.
Justice Manmohan said, “When someone makes an outrageous statement, we just laugh it off. They can’t be termed as co-conspirators.”
“Everyday this is happening,” Justice Mishra agreed.
Mr Luthra argued that the statement was not just defamatory.
The bench granted Mr Rao bail and said the next hearing will be after eight weeks.
(With inputs from PTI)
