A special POCSO court in Gurugram, Haryana issued an arrest warrant against journalist and news anchor Deepak Chaurasia for allegedly airing ‘morphed, manipulated, and indecent’ videos of a 10-year-old child and her family. Expressing displeasure over Chaurasia’s absence, Additional Sessions Judge, Shashi Chauhan, ordered that the anchor be arrested on a non-bailable warrant on or before November 21—the next scheduled date of hearing. Chaurasia’s counsel moved an application for exemption from personal appearance citing a medical emergency but neither a medical certificate nor an affidavit to support this claim.
The court dismissed the application and revoked his bail after concluding that he was purposefully avoiding appearing in court. A warrant for his arrest was then issued, and the court also canceled his bail bond and surety bond.
“The bail of the applicant-accused is cancelled. His bail bond and surety bond are cancelled…Warrant of arrest against accused Deepak Chaurasia be issued for November 21…notice to his surety under section 446 of the CrPC and his identifier be also issued for the date fixed,” the court stated in its order, as reported by the Siasat Daily.
The court observed that it appears Chaurasia was purposefully evading the court as a similar application was filed by him in September as well.
Background of the case
The case pertains to an FIR based on a complaint filed by a child’s relative on December 15, 2013. It claimed that three news organizations—News24, India News, and News Nation—were involved in airing the abovementioned “morphed”, “edited” and “obscene” videos. Eight people were charged in 2020 and 2021 for the airing of the videos of a 10-year-old girl and her family, and then connecting the said videos to the sexual assault case against self-styled godman Asaram Bapu. The accused include former News24 managing editor Ajit Anjum, Aaj Tak anchor Chitra Tripathi, and former News Nation anchor Deepak Chaurasia.
The Court issued this order on October 28, after Chaurasiya moved an application seeking exemption from his personal appearance on grounds of serious health condition. However, the court expressed its displeasure about the absence of the anchor and stated that despite Chaurasia’s request for an exemption due to bad health, the court had not received any supporting documentation.
In the past, bailable warrants were issued for the arrest of ACP Surender, inspector Jitender, and inspector Sanjay, the three investigating officials in the said case, after the court allegedly discovered errors and omissions in the supplemental chargesheet and the electronic and documentary evidence.
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