Maharashtra: Two journalists held for ‘obstructing cop from discharging duties’ get bail

On June 7, the Maharashtra government had issued a notification, amending the maximum punishment under Section 353 of the IPC from two years to five years. The notification added that “the inquiry or trial shall, as far as possible be completed within a period of six months from the date of filing the chargesheet.”

The notification also carried an amendment to Section 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the IPC, raising the maximum punishment in the case from three to five years.

While in the past, such cases would be tried by the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), the cases will now be heard by the sessions court. This is likely to make the process of getting bail comparatively difficult.

About the incident involving the arrest of the two journalists, the police said a team had arrested alleged dacoits who were involved in the firing incident at Waghoba Khind on Thursday.

As the alleged dacoits were brought to the Palghar police station, the two journalists reached the spot to report on the arrest.

“The journalists started video recording the accused being taken to the jail. As per Supreme Court guidelines, the identity of the accused cannot be revealed… the journalists and the police Sub-Inspector T Sayyad got into a heated argument. Khan held the officer by the collar and Parmar also said he would get the officer suspended. After this, the police registered an FIR,” said Superintendent of Police (Palgar) Manjunath Shinge.

Shinge added that the sub-inspector, too, had been transferred to the control room and a preliminary enquiry has been ordered to see if there was any misconduct on his part. Palghar police spokesperson, Hemant Katkar, said, “The duo were in judicial custody since Friday. They were released on bail on Monday. The CCTV footage from the police station has been handed over to the Kelva police station that has been asked to investigate the matter.”

Senior journalist Jatin Desai said, “The police is just putting the blame on the journalists who had gone to cover a news story. The state should withdraw the case against the journalists and action should be taken against the officer responsible.”

Brian Lobo, an activist with the Kashtakari Sanghatana, said, “How can sections dealing with obstructing a public servant be at par with other sessions triable offences, like murder and dacoity? Even though the imprisonment in the former cases is five years, a sessions triable case means getting bail would be difficult. The government wants to quell protests and in case of a face-off with protestors it can be easily misused.”

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Sunil Porwal said, “The notification was carried out before my tenure, so I do not know the reason behind it off-hand.”

Former Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Sudhir Shrivastava, could not be reached for a comment.