Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
Suman De, the news presenter for ABP Ananda, was charged under Sections 153 and 505 of the IPC for allegedly making false statements about the events in Sandeshkhali on his Bengali news programme, “Ghantakhanek Songe Suman.” The Calcutta High Court has halted all criminal proceedings against De.
It was claimed that the anchor had falsely said that the police had not objected to the two accused parties’ bail request, which had provoked violent attacks on the police.
De stated that the error resulted from a misunderstanding between the news station and the petitioner’s counsel, for which he and the channel had both apologised and provided multiple clarifications.
Justice Kausik Chanda halted the legal action against De. It was held that “When the petitioner immediately with promptitude clarified the reasons for such a mistake and also sought for an apology, it cannot be said that the said news was telecast “malignantly” on “wantonly” to give provocation to any persons to cause offence of rioting. A bona-fide mistake in reporting a court proceeding does not constitute the offences under the aforesaid penal provisions.”
The argument was that the error happened as a result of a misunderstanding between the accused’s lawyer and the news station, and since an apology was also made, the said procedures had to be halted.
The State’s Advocate General argued that because the petitioner had acknowledged his guilt, a simple apology was insufficient to clear him of the crimes.
There was a claim that the aforementioned news story incited animosity among the community, which sparked protests against the police. Additionally, it was claimed that the petitioner had not been subjected to coercion and that he had received a Section 41A CrPC notice, to which he was still awaiting a response.
The State could not contest that the news article had been corrected, given that the petitioner had acknowledged his error. As a result, it decided that Sections 153 and 505 IPC could not be used to punish a legitimate reporting error like the one in this case. The court halted the proceedings and cited a previous ruling in which it had released Republic TV journalist Santu Pan from custody in Sandeshkhali.