Bengaluru: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s social media cell chief Amit Malviya and Republic TV’s Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami had a sigh of relief on Thursday after the Karnataka High Court stayed criminal cases filed against them over their responses to Opposition party, The Congress in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor.
The case against Arnab Goswami stemmed from falsely reporting that the Istanbul Congress Centre, which is a convention venue owned by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, is an office of the Indian National Congress, Scroll reported.
The Bengaluru Police had booked Malviya and Goswami on Tuesday after the Indian Youth Congress’ legal cell head, Shrikant Swaroop BN filed a complaint against them with the first information report registered under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Based on it they were charged with provocation having the intent to cause riot and intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace.
Republic TV news on May 15 presented the Istanbul Congress Centre as the office of the Congress, according to the report.
The claim, according to the complainant, was made ‘with clear and undeniable criminal intent to deceive the Indian public, defame a major political institution, manipulate nationalist sentiments, incite public unrest, and undermine national security and democratic integrity’.
It is reported citing Alt News that the Indian National Congress nevertheless having announced in 2019 a plan to open an overseas office in Istanbul, Turkey has not been listed on the Indian Overseas Congress website.
In the midst of the controversy, Republic TV on Tuesday said that the image was mistakenly used by video editor terming it a ‘technical error’.
Rejecting the apology, the Congress said that it was not sufficient.
The case against Malviya was filed for allegedly posting an image having one half of Rahul Gandhi’s face fused with a half of Pakistani Army chief Asim Munir’s face.
It also reportedly carried a caption that suggested whether Gandhi was echoing Pakistan’s narrative.
The BJP’s social media cell chief sought in his petition to quash this case as well, according to Bar and Bench.