A court in Kerala has summoned journalist and editor-in-chief of Republic TV Arnab Goswami in a criminal defamation case for allegedly humiliating the people of Kerala during a debate on his channel, Live Law reported on Thursday.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader P Sasi had filed the complaint saying Goswami called the people of the state “shameless” during a debate last year on whether the Centre had refused to accept the United Arab Emirates government’s offer to provide aid to Kerala for flood relief, according to The News Minute.
The Judicial First Class Magistrate’s Court in Kannur has asked Goswami to appear before it on June 20.
“This group is shameless, is the most shameless bunch of Indians I have ever seen, they have gone around spreading the lie religiously. I don’t know what they get for it,” Goswami was quoted as saying during the debate by Mathrubhumi in August last year. “Whether they get paid for it? Do they get paid money for abusing their own country? Are they part of a group? Who are they funded by? Point is it is a conspiracy to malign India.”
However, Newslaundry reported the same month that a widely-circulated video clip that allegedly showed Goswami abusing Malayalis, was, in fact, edited to omit his real targets – the Congress, the Left and the “anti-India lobby”.
Sasi had sought an unconditional apology from Goswami and a donation of Rs 10 crore to the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund.
In January, the Kerala High Court had stayed proceedings in another criminal defamation case filed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor against Goswami. Tharoor had filed the case in June, accusing Goswami of making baseless statements in connection with the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.
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