Chennai: Close on the heels of the magisterial order releasing Nakkeeran Gopal after holding the police wrong in booking him under section 124 IPC — which deals with ‘assaulting the President or Governor with intent to compel or restrain exercise of any lawful power’ — the Madras High Court on Friday came down heavily on the cops for the same reason.
Upon this, the police gave an undertaking to the court that they would not arrest till October 25, the 35 employees of Nakkheeran magazine who were also booked under section 124 of IPC along with their editor Gopal. Hearing the anticipatory bail plea by these employees, Justice M Dhandapani wondered if the police even knew the situations that warranted slapping section 124 - which is applicable only if the Governor is blocked from going somewhere or blocked from doing his duties.
These cases should have been filed under sections 499 and 500 of the IPC - dealing with criminal defamation - on the basis of the complaint from Raj Bhavan.
It may be recalled that Gopal, the editor of Nakkheeran magazine, was arrested on October 9 on the basis of a complaint filed by Governor Banwarilal Purohit, for a cover-story carried in the magazine about the Nirmala Devi sex scam case. He was later released. On Friday, Justice M Dhandapani stressed that case must have been filed under sections 499 and 500 of the IPC - relating to criminal defamation - on the complaint given by the Deputy Secretary to the Governor, and not under section 124.
The rap from Justice Dhandapani came even as the Raj Bhavan made a statement stoutly defending its complaint against Nakkheeran, arguing that the magazine's reportage linking the Governor, the Raj Bhavan and Nirmala Devi did not have "a shred of truthfulness."
"It can only be a deep sense of hatred towards goodness and truth that could have driven any journalist to have written the articles in the manner they appeared in Nakkheeran. It is a matter of regret that such utter falsehood and this kind of yellow journalism is being supported by respectable people who, it appears, are not aware of the facts," said the Raj Bhavan statement.
Denying the involvement of the Governor in the Nirmala Devi case, the Raj Bhavan statement said "It was indeed shocking to see a resurfacing of yellow journalism in an issue of the magazine Nakkeeran in late September after the charge sheets had been filed and all investigation completed."
"Those who claim to be engaged in investigative journalism have not even bothered to verify the actual statement given by Tmt. Nirmala Devi before the police. The height of casualness and cowardice in journalistic ethics had been reached with the publishing of the article," said the Raj Bhavan release.
