Samyabrata Ray Goswami, Senior Executive Editor, Republic TV, and Arnab Goswami’s wife, has released a statement in which she said that the entire state and national machinery would be held responsible if any harm is inflicted on my husband. The statement was released after Goswami was shifted to Taloja Jail by Maharashtra Police. Arnab Goswami had alleged that the jailer had assaulted him after he asked for access to his lawyers and he was denied the request.
#IndiaWithArnab | Senior Executive Editor Samyabrata Ray Goswami’s statement: With Arnab publicly disclosing threat to his life & atrocities faced in custody, law & order officers, the state & national machinery will be held responsible if any harm is inflicted upon my husband pic.twitter.com/OltU13IzOT
— Republic (@republic) November 8, 2020
She said, “The state machinery has turned into a handmaiden for politically motivated aggression and the pillars of democracy cannot be spectators to the grave and brazen human rights abuses and state excesses deployed against a citizen in the state of Maharashtra by state machinery.” She further added that Arnab had disclosed the threat to his life publicly and the atrocities he is facing in custody. She said, “the law and order officers and the entire state and national machinery will be held responsible if any harm is inflicted upon my husband.”
Statement by Samyabrata Ray Goswami
This morning my Editor-in-chief and husband, who has spent 4 nights in judicial custody, was being dragged and lugged by the Maharashtra Police in a blacked-out police van to Taloja Jail. He was repeatedly saying ‘my life is under threat’ but to no avail. He repeatedly said that the jailer assaulted him after he asked for access to his lawyers, which was shockingly denied. He detailed the assault being inflicted on him during this custody and pleaded, hands folded, to the Supreme Court of India for intervention and bail. An innocent man and journalist of decades of repute, a journalist doing his duty for the nation, has been assaulted, harassed and framed on fake charges. He has been thrown into jail with no reprieve. The state machinery has turned into a handmaiden for politically motivated aggression and the pillars of democracy cannot be spectators to the grave and brazen human rights abuses and state excesses deployed against a citizen in the state of Maharashtra by state machinery.
In the state of Maharashtra, institutions meant to safeguard law and order have become violators and assaulters in uniform. Fundamental rights are being trampled upon, due process is witnessing an egregious breakdown and institutional integrity is endangered like never before. My husband, the Editor-in-Chief of the leading news network in the country, has become subject to assault, physical harm, illegal arrest and all of this despite being in clear public sight, has not been met with any intervention.
With Arnab publicly disclosing the threat to his life and the atrocities he is facing in custody, the law and order officers and the entire state and national machinery will be held responsible if any harm is inflicted upon my husband.
I humbly appeal to the institutions that still hold truth to power and stand tall as a pillar of our great democracy to take note of the gross abuse and misuse of power at play to punish a journalist who demanded accountability. A precedent is being set today for our democracy. I turn to the great institutions with hope that those in power will not remain blind or mute to the atrocity on one man, one citizen, one journalist, one news network and the free press at large, anymore.
Sting operation revealed dark plans against Goswami
In a sting operation, NCP’s Nawab Malik had claimed on camera that Arnab would be trapped in the TRP Scam, and he will commit suicide. He also alleged that Arnab might have gone mentally unstable. He said, “The path he has taken, he sits inside a ‘self-imposed’ reality. He thinks that it works like this and when he gets to know that there is nothing and everything is fake then a person can do anything, right? He thinks that the whole system works the way his mind likes. That he can do anything and everything but when that does not happen the person goes to a different zone, right?”
BJP leaders came in support
Several high-profile BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, and Yogi Adityanath, have come forward in Arnab Goswami’s support. BJP leader Kriti Somaiya had said in a tweet that he had talked to the jailer of Taloja Jail and asked him for the appropriate treatment of Arnab Goswami.
Later in the Kriti Somaiya went to Taloja Jail to meet the jailer personally. After the meeting, he informed that he has insisted on proper care and protection of Arnab Goswami. He added that the jailer has assured him that no harassment will take place in the jail. Kaustubh Kurlekar assured Somaiya that any required medical treatment will be provided to Goswami.