Freedom of the press is indispensable to democracy, observed the Calcutta High Court recently while granting anticipatory bail to a journalist who was booked in an extortion case after he shot videos on illegal mining [Ranjit Das vs State of West Bengal]. A division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md. Shabbar Rashidi emphasised that there is a need to protect the freedom of a journalist to execute his endeavours. "Freedom of Press is indispensable to democracy. Freedom of Press can be maintained by ring-fencing the Press from intimidation. A journalist is part of the Press and his freedom to execute his journalistic endeavours needs to be protected," the bench observed in the January 18 order. The observations were made while granting anticipatory bail to one Ranjit Das, a journalist from the ABP Ananda news channel. He claimed that he had shot videos of illegal sand mining and subsequently, a false criminal case was lodged against him. On the other hand, the police claimed that Das had indulged in extorting money from some persons. The Court, however, allowed the grant of anticipatory bail to the journalist after taking note of the submission that he may have been falsely implicated in a criminal case."In these circumstances, we grant anticipatory bail to the Petitioner," the bench said while ordering the authorities to release Das in the event of his arrest on his furnishing a ₹10,000 bond and two sureties.Advocates Niladri Sekhar Ghosh, Sompurna Chatterjee, Sourov Mondal and Labani Sikder appeared for the journalist.
Additional Public Prosecutor Sanjoy Bardhan and Shashanka Shekhar Saha represented the State.
TAGS: Anticipatory Bail Journalist Ranjit Das ABP Ananda News Channel.Illegal Sand Mining Videos False Criminal Case
