The Supreme Court has refused to interfere with the Jharkhand High Court’s order granting interim bail to journalist Arup Chatterjee, Live Law reported on Monday.
Chatterjee, a journalist with Ranchi-based channel News11 Bharat, was arrested on the intervening night between July 16 and 17 on charges of extortion, blackmail, cheating and conspiracy, according to Newslaundry. A businessman, Rakesh Kumar, accused the journalist of attempting to extort Rs 11 lakh from him, and of broadcasting fake news against him.
On July 19, the High Court granted interim bail to the journalist while responding to a petition by his wife Baby Chatterjee. Subsequently, the Jharkhand government challenged the order in the Supreme Court.
On Monday, a bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli described the manner in which Chatterjee was arrested as “complete lawlessness” and said that it reflected an excess of state power.
“You go to his house in midnight, pull him out of his bedroom…this is no way to treat a media journalist,” the court said.
In July, Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi of the High Court had, in his order granting interim bail, noted that Chatterjee was arrested without following due procedure under Sections 41A, 80 and 81 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Section 41A states that in cases where a person does not need to be arrested, the police need to issue a notice directing the accused person to appear before a police officer. Under Section 80, when an arrest warrant is executed outside the district in which it was issued, the accused person has to be produced before a magistrate.
Advocate Ajit Kumar, who represented Baby Chatterjee before the High Court, had argued that the journalist’s family members were not allowed to meet him after the arrest.
The wife also alleged that a false case has been filed against Arup Chatterjee after he broadcast a story on corruption.
The High Court had ordered the Jharkhand government to submit an affidavit explaining its officers’ actions against Chatterjee.
“The police is having power of arrest and whether that power can be utilised arbitrarily that too in a case of person, who is a journalist, shall be considered later on after filing of the affidavit of other side,” the High Court had said.
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