The Governor asked the Home Minister to allow Arnab Goswami’s family to meet with him
Mumbai:
After arrested Republic TV anchor Arnab Goswami alleged today that he was being “assaulted” in jail and was not being allowed to meet his family, the Maharashtra Governor intervened and dialed the state government to convey his concern.
Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari spoke to Maharashtra’s Home Minister Anil Deshmukh this morning and expressed concern over the security and health of Mr Goswami in jail.
The Governor also asked the state Home Minister to allow the journalist’s family to meet with him.
Mr Goswami will stay in jail for now, after being denied interim relief by the Bombay High Court, where he has challenged his arrest. He has also requested bail before a lower court, which was asked by the High Court to decide within four days.
The journalist was shifted to a jail from a prison quarantine centre on Sunday after allegedly being found using a mobile phone, according to news agency PTI. He was accused of using a mobile phone for social media activity though his phone was seized when he was arrested last week.
While being taken to Taloja jail, Mr Goswami had shouted to the media from the police van that he was assaulted by the jailer at the Alibaug prison on Saturday evening, that his life was in danger and that he was
not allowed to speak to his lawyer.
In a statement, Mr Goswami’s wife Samyabrata Ray Goswami, also in Republic TV, said: “This morning, my husband, who has spent four 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 for intervention and bail.”
Mr Goswami and two others were arrested on November 4 in connection with the suicide of architect Anvay Naik and his mother in 2018, allegedly over dues not paid for his work on Republic TV’s sets.
All three were sent to judicial custody till November 18.
Several Union Ministers came out in the TV anchor’s support, likening his arrest to the days of the Emergency and accusing Maharashtra’s Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government of attacking freedom of press.