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Cash-for-query case: court exempts Bahal from personal appearance

Staff Reporter

Editors Guild slams Delhi Police move to prosecute two journalists

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday exempted Aniruddha Bahal, editor-in-chief of cobrapost.com, from personal appearance before a trial court here in the cash-for-query case of 2005.

Justice G. S. Sistani gave the relief to Mr. Bahal on a petition that sought the quashing of the charge sheet and its cognisance by Special Judge (Prevention of Corruption Act) vis-À-vis him.

Mr. Justice Sistani also issued a notice to the Delhi government on his petition and counsel for the government accepted it.

The Special Investigation Team of the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police charge sheeted Mr. Bahal, his colleague Suhasini Raj and 11 former Members of Parliament in June.

The two journalists were charge sheeted for “abetting the former MPs to indulge in corruption by offering them cash for raising questions at their bidding in Parliament.”

The journalists offered money to them while taking shots for a sting operation intended at exposing corruption among MPs.

Clean chit

In his submission through counsel Siddharth Luthra and P.K. Dubey, Mr. Bahal submitted that the decision of the Delhi Police to make him a co-accused in the case was an attempt on the part of the investigating agency to get a clean chit from the court for the accused MPs.

He submitted that it was very strange and beyond the common legal sense that the police had made him a co-accused while the fact was that he was a witness to the misdeeds of the accused MPs.

Intention

He submitted that his intention was not to abet these MPs to indulge in corruption but to expose corruption in “our polity.”

In reply to Mr. Bahal’s submission, counsel for the Delhi government said the prosecution might request Mr. Bahal to become an approver in the case. But counsel for Mr. Bahal opposed this.

Our Special Correspondent writes:

The Editors Guild of India on Tuesday condemned the move of the Delhi police to prosecute the two journalists.

In a statement, the Guild noted that the two journalists used a sting operation to show that some MPs were in the habit of accepting bribes for posing questions to the government while they are expected to ask questions only in public interest.

According to the Guild, the Delhi Police was shooting the messenger by stating that the two journalists abetted the crime of corruption. “The Guild is perturbed by the charge sheet as it sends a message that journalists who expose corruption and sleaze in high places would be prosecuted.”

While demanding that the case against the two journalists be withdrawn, the Guild criticised the Delhi Police bid to mount pressure on the journalists to turn approvers for getting immunity from sentence. “Journalists who expose corruption cannot be accused or approvers.”

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