Heena Sharma Blog

  The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the Maharashtra government over the 2018 abetment to suicide case against journalist Arnab Goswami and said that it would be a travesty of justice if personal liberty of a person is curtailed like this. A vacation bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee asked the state whether there was any need for custodial interrogation of Goswami as the issue pertains to personal liberty.   The bench observed that Indian democracy is extraordinarily resilient and the Maharashtra government must ignore all this (Arnab's taunt on TV). Whatever be his ideology, least I don't even watch his channel but if in this case constitutional court's do not interfere today, we are travelling the path of destruction undeniably, Justice Chandrachud said, adding, the point is can you deny personal liberty of a person on these allegations. Read More

  Republic TV's distribution head Ghanshyam Singh was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the alleged TRP rigging scam (Television Rating Point) rigging scam, a Mumbai crime branch official said. Singh, who is also Assistant Vice President of the Republic Media Network, was picked up from his residence around 7.40 am, the official said. The latest arrest has taken the number of people held by the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the crime branch in the case to 12. Singh was earlier questioned on multiple occasions by the CIU, the official said. The fake TRP scam came to light last month when ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain television channels were rigging TRP numbers. Read More

  Police on Wednesday arrested Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami for allegedly abetting suicide of a 53-year-old interior designer, a police official said. The official said a team of Alibaug police picked up Goswami from his residence here. Goswami, who was seen being pushed into the police van, claimed he was assaulted by police at his home, while being taken away. In 2018, an architect and his mother committed suicide over alleged non-payment of dues by Goswamis Republic TV, the official said. In May this year, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had announced that a re-investigation has been ordered on a fresh complaint by Adnya Naik, daughter of the architect Anvay Naik. Read More

  The Mumbai Police has busted a racket where three channels -Republic TV, Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema - manipulated (TRP) Television Rating Points. So far, the police have arrested four persons in the case. Tune in to the podcast to better understand why TRP is a big deal for TV channels and how does it actually work. Read More

SpiceJet on Wednesday suspended stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra from flying with it after he allegedly heckled journalist Arnab Goswami aboard an IndiGo Mumbai-Lucknow flight. SpiceJet is the third airline to take action against Kamra. While IndiGo suspended Kamra from flying with it for a period of six months on Tuesday itself, Air India banned him until further notice. Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had taken note of the incident on Tuesday and "advised" other airlines in India to impose similar restrictions on Kamra, stating "offensive behaviour designed to provoke & create disturbance inside an aircraft is absolutely unacceptable & endangers safety of air travellers". On Wednesday morning, SpiceJet said on Twitter, "SpiceJet has decided to suspend Mr. Kunal Kamra from flying with the airline till further notice." An AirAsia India official told PTI that the airline is waiting for the aviation regulator DGCA to issue a formal n...