Dushyant Dave | SabrangIndia

Arnab’s plea listed urgently in SC, Dushyant Dave alleges preferential treatment

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 04:18:03 +0000

Image Courtesy:opindia.com

As Arnab Goswami lodged in Taloja Jail awaits the expedited hearing of his petition against denial of interim bail, the President of Supreme Court Bar Association has, in strong words, protested against the ‘extraordinary urgent listing’ of the matter at the apex court. Mr. Dushyant Dave, the President of SCBA wrote a letter to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court pointing out the selective listing of matters that the registry is indulging in “for last eight months during Covid pandemic”.

In the beginning of the letter itself he has made it abundantly clear that this letter is not intended to “anyway interfere with the rights” of Goswami to move the Supreme Court and states that like all Citizens he also has the right to seek justice from the highest court.

Dave points out, “While thousands of Citizens remain in jails , languishing for long periods while their matters filed before the Hon’ble Supreme Court are not getting listed for weeks and months, it is , to say the least, deeply disturbing as to how and why every time Mr Goswami approaches the Supreme Court , his matter gets listed instantly”. On this he immediately raised a serious question, “Is there any special Order or Direction from Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India and the Master of the Roaster in this regard? It is quite well known that such extraordinarily urgent listings of matters cannot and does not take place without specific orders from Hon’ble the Chief Justice. Or is it that as the Administrative Head you or the Registrar listing is giving special preference to Shri Goswami?”.

Dave further brought to the notice of the Secretary General that he has received several requests from advocates stating that their matters do not get listed for weeks and months, even if they are bail applications. While some advocates get instant listing, some others have to wait in queue for the same. Dave questioned why there is no full proof system that will be fair to all citizens as well as advocates, like a fully computerised and automated system.

He further pointed out how an ill-functioning video platform has been in use in the apex court for conducting video conference hearings and that has affected the pace of hearings and affected the sitting benches, rendering them unable to hear matters due to technical flaws. “Fewer Benches are in session daily and some of them don’t even sit during Court hours due to unknown reasons , may be due to technological challenges . Direct and debilitating effect is on the Justice delivery and rights of the Citizens, at least Common Man,” stated Dave.

Coming back to Goswami’s petition which was immediately listed, Dave stated, “This is a gross abuse of administrative power, whosoever has exercised it on administrative side . It gives an impression that Clients represented by certain Lawyers are getting special treatment , which does not speak well if the great Institution, that the Supreme Court is.”

He further requested the Secretary General that until cases of all those advocates who have requested urgent hearing are heard, this petition of Goswami be put on hold. He also requested that his letter be placed before the bench comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee on November 11.

Goswami was arrested by Alibaug Police on November 4 from his Mumbai house in connection with the death of an interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik in 2018. A 53-year-old interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik had died allegedly by suicide in Alibag in May 2018. According to a report in the Hindustan Times, a suicide note purportedly written by Anvay was found in which he stated that Goswami and two others — Feroz Shaikh and Niteish Sarda —had not paid him Rs 5.40 crore which led to financial constraints.

There is certainly no denying that Goswami has every right to be heard before the Supreme Court like any other citizen of the country but it is the selective treatment being meted out to certain cases that poses a threat to equality before law. Goswami has been knocking the doors of every level of court possible in a bid to secure his release after being arrested in an abetment of suicide case. The bone of contention remains that his case was listed before the Bench the very next day as it was filed and puts into question the partial treatment being given to high profile cases while access to justice has been quite restricted due to the limited functioning of courts of law in the country, owing to the pandemic.

The full text of the letter may be read here:

To ,

The Secretary General ,
Supreme Court of India ,
New Delhi .

Subject:- Extraordinary Urgent Listing of the Special Leave Petition filed on behalf of Shri Arnab Goswami .

Dear Sir,

I address this letter to you as the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association to lodge strong protest with regard to the subject matter which has been listed Tomorrow before the Bench of Hon’ble Justice D Y Chandrachud and Hon’ble Justice Indira Banerjee.

I have nothing personal against Mr Goswami and I am not writing this letter to anyway interfere with his rights to move the Supreme Court. Like all Citizens he also has the right to seek justice from the highest court.

The serious issue here is selective listing of matters that the Registry under your leadership is indulging in for the last eight months during Covid pandemic. While thousands of Citizens remain in jails , languishing for long periods while their matters filed before the Hon’ble Supreme Court are not getting listed for weeks and months, it is, to say the least, deeply disturbing as to how and why every time Mr Goswami approaches the Supreme Court , his matter gets listed instantly . Is there any special Order or Direction from Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India and the Master of the Roaster in this regard? It is quite well known that such extraordinarily urgent listings of matters cannot and does not take place without specific orders from Hon’ble the Chief Justice . Or is it that as the Administrative Head you or the Registrar listing is giving special preference to Shri Goswami

You are fully aware , and it is on record , that time and again I have received requests from various Advocates on Record to the effect that the matters filed by them are not getting listed for weeks and months though very urgent and involving serious issues requiring Hon’ble Court s urgent intervention including Bail matters . They have even complained , giving names , that certain AOR S matters get instant listing while they have to wait in queue for a long time, sometimes against the same judgement being appealed against .

I must place on record that in a few cases you have kindly helped in getting such matters listed . But that is not the issue . Issue here is , why is this selective listing taking place when the system is supposedly computerised and is to work automatically? Why is It that despite the same, matters are getting circulated and that too before only a few Hon’ble Benches? Why is there no foolproof system to be just and fair to all Citizens and all AORs?

You are aware , and I have brought to your notice time and again , that Covid has created serious challenges for Lawyers and that their very livelihood is threatened . Many are suffering irreparably. SCBA has tried to help them financially but we have limitations . The solution lies in improving the Virtual Hearing system in the Supreme Court by replacing Vydeo with better technical platform. SCBA, after discussing with some of the leading players in the field , short listed one of the best in the World and forwarded the proposal to You as also to E Committee and Computer Committee months and months ago. We were told that it is under consideration . You floated tender , while most HC s are taking better platforms without any tender process to do better justice . Shockingly, Hon’ble Chief Justice during hearing of a matter, upon being offered a better platform by Reliance Jio , asked his client to contact Registry . This was bolt from the blue and a shock .

Be that as it may , SC has failed to shift to a better platform for unknown reasons, making its functioning quite truncated and limited. Fewer Benches are in session daily and some of them don’t even sit during Court hours due to unknown reasons, may be due to technological challenges. Direct and debilitating effect is on the Justice delivery and rights of the Citizens, at least Common Man.

So, likes of Shri Goswami get special treatment while ordinary Indians are made to suffer , including Imprisonment, which are many times illegal and unauthorised .

Even someone like Mr P Chidambaram, a respected Senior Advocate, could not get similar speed listing and had to spend long months in jail till finally the Hon’ble Supreme Court declares that he deserved to be Bailed out .

Sir , the subject matter was filed yesterday, it got instant diary number, though not final, and it is listed tomorrow. This is a gross abuse of administrative power, whosoever has exercised it on administrative side. It gives an impression that Clients represented by certain Lawyers are getting special treatment, which does not speak well of the great institution, that the Supreme Court is.

I request, that till you install foolproof system to ensure urgent listing on well known principles , till you have listed all the matters filed by various AORs with urgent listing requests prior to November 10 , you should not allow the subject matter to be heard .

I request you to place my letter before Hon’ble Bench hearing the matter tomorrow in this regards.

Sincerely ,
Dushyant Dave ,
President ,
SCBA .
Nov 10, 2020 ,
New Delhi .

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Samyabrata defends husband Arnab, takes on Dushyant Dave’s letter to SC

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 04:15:58 +0000

Image Courtesy:opindia.com

Republic TV Senior Executive Editor Samyabrata Ray Goswami, who is also wife of Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, has come out in spirited defence of her husband. After Dushyant Dave, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association wrote to the Secretary General alleging preferential treatment being given to Arnab Goswami by giving his case an urgent listing, Samyabrata has penned a letter of her own where she enumerates similar instances.

She writes, “It is a fact that on 29 August, 2019 a petition in Romila Thappar vs Union of India (Writ Petition (criminal) Diary No. 32319/2018) was taken up by the Hon’ble Supreme Court on the same day. This was a case in which one of the lawyers for the petitioner was Shri Dushyant Dave, who ironically is the author of the letter to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court of India questioning the speed of listing of my husband’s case.” She adds, “The duplicity of the author speaks volumes of the motivated intent.”

Samyabrata also lists examples of cases of journalist Vinod Dua and lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan who had both been granted hearings urgently. Samyabrata further says that Dave’s letter is an attempt to sully not only Arnab Goswami’s reputation, but also that of the court. She writes, “I believe Shri Dave has attempted to tarnish the reputation, the integrity, and the independence of the great institution of judiciary and has also attempted to cause prejudice to the free and fair course of justice.”

She concludes her letter, praying for justice for her husband, “I am deeply disturbed that his life is under threat and that he has been in a jail meant for hardened criminals. I fear for his life and future as I appeal to the highest courts of this country to deliver him and us justice. I look to you with great hope, and inextinguishable faith in the judiciary – as a wife seeking justice and as a citizen of this great country.”

The entire letter may be read here:

To,

The Secretary General,

Supreme Court of India,

New Delhi.

Subject: Malicious attempt by Shri Dushyant Dave, Senior Advocate to cause prejudice to the hearing of my husband Arnab Ranjan Goswami’s petition in the Hon’ble Supreme Court by his selective outrage.

Dear Sir,

I am shocked at the publicly circulated abhorrent letter by Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court of India, implying that due process was not followed in the listing of the Special Leave Petition filed on behalf of my husband Arnab Goswami, who tonight spends his 7th night in custody which is clearly in breach of his fundamental and human rights.

My husband, a leading journalist of a national channel, was dragged, assaulted and then illegally arrested on 4th November 2020. He was paraded without footwear, and an attempt was made by the law & order machinery of the State of Maharashtra to rob him of his dignity. Two days ago, he was denied legal access and taken to Taloja Jail after a morning assault in custody. He publicly expressed, while being transported to Taloja Jail, that his life was in danger.

For over a month now, our newsroom, our editorial staff, our management and on-ground teams of Republic Media Network have borne the brunt of a vindictive campaign at the hands of the state machinery of Maharashtra. My husband, Arnab Goswami and the entire team at Republic has followed due process of law irrespective of the ongoing trampling of the free press and Emergency-like situation prevailing in the state of Maharashtra.

Today, when I read Shri Dave’s letter, I am shocked and horrified at the extent to which certain vested interests are at work. Neither do I know Shri Dave, nor have I ever met him. However, the selective targeting of my husband’s petition by Shri Dave shall have to be opposed by me, given his silence on other matters which were taken up by this Hon’ble Supreme Court in its wisdom with urgency in the past. Shri Dave’s silence in the following matters and his selective outrage in the present case is not only prejudicial to the cause of justice for my husband but is contemptuous as it tends to interfere with administration of justice.

It is a fact that on 29 August, 2019 a petition in Romila Thappar vs Union of India (Writ Petition (criminal) Diary No. 32319/2018) was taken up by the Hon’ble Supreme Court on the same day. This was a case in which one of the lawyers for the petitioner was Shri Dushyant Dave, who ironically is the author of the letter to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court of India questioning the speed of listing of my husband’s case. The duplicity of the author speaks volumes of the motivated intent. This was a matter not filed by any aggrieved parties but by few “public spirited persons” seeking to “protect human rights and fundamental freedoms” of certain individuals who are allegedly involved in alleged Naxalite activities.

It is public knowledge that on 14th June, 2020, in the peak of the COVID pandemic, a special hearing was granted on a Sunday to another senior journalist Shri Vinod Dua in a petition filed by him under Art. 32 of the Constitution of India challenging the FIR filed against him. The timeframe of the listing then seem to have eluded the SCBA President’s memory, thereby giving me a strong reason to believe that the present attack on my husband and attempt to stall due process are a case of selective outrage.

Further, I have been informed that in the case of Prashant Bhushan versus Jaydev Rajnikant the writ petition was filed on 30 April, 2020 (again under Art. 32 of the Constitution of India) in the Supreme Court seeking to quash an FIR registered against him by Gujarat police and the matter was listed to be heard on 1 May, 2020. Again, there was a stony silence on the part of Mr Dave on this development.

In view of the aforesaid, I have a strong reason to believe that the letter referred to above is an attempt to sully the character of my husband by selectively targeting him and prejudice his case which is up for hearing in the Supreme Court tomorrow. I believe that there is an attempt to jeopardise the cause of justice in my husband’s petition and to cast a shadow on the hearing on the matter.

As terrifyingly, by making repulsive insinuations regarding the wielding of influence over the highest judicial officers of this country, I believe Shri Dave has attempted to tarnish the reputation, the integrity, and the independence of the great institution of judiciary and has also attempted to cause prejudice to the free and fair course of justice.

My husband is an honest journalist of over 20 years. He has built India’s number 1 news network on the foundations of principles, integrity and accountability. While the questions he may ask might make some quarters uncomfortable, what is playing out today is an attempt to use a state machinery to browbeat, fix and frame a journalist and threaten his life.

I am deeply disturbed that his life is under threat and that he has been in a jail meant for hardened criminals. I fear for his life and future as I appeal to the highest courts of this country to deliver him and us justice.

I look to you with great hope, and inextinguishable faith in the judiciary – as a wife seeking justice and as a citizen of this great country.

Thanking you.

Yours sincerely,

Samyabrata Ray Goswami

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