The coalition government in Maharashtra headed by Shiv Sena and their chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has been dogged in its hounding of Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami. After serving 3 prior notices, now, the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly has now served the fourth notice to Goswami and asked him to reach the assembly within 10 minutes.
Republic TV broke the news that at 2:50 PM today, Arnab Goswami got a notice from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly asking him to appear, in person, at 3:00 PM. Essentially, the state government gave Arnab Goswami merely 10 minutes to make a personal appearance in the Assembly, saying that if he does not, action could be initiated against him.
#Arnab10MinuteNotice | 'It is our legal right to seek a remedy from the Supreme Court': Arnab on Maharashtra Assembly's fourth notice expecting him to appear in 10 mins
— Republic (@republic) October 16, 2020
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Taking to Republic TV, Arnab Goswami said that this was a complete break-down of the democratic process in the state. He said that every prior notice served by the Assembly has been responded but the Assembly seems to have refused to accept their responses. This, Arnab Goswami said, is illegal and the Assembly was duty-bound to accept the response.
3 other notices served to Arnab Goswami by Maharashtra Assembly earlier
The firs notice by the Maharashtra Assembly was served to Goswami on the 16th of September over breach of privilege.
The Maharashtra legislature secretariat had earlier sought clarification from Arnab Goswami on September 16 over a breach of privilege motion against him during a two-day monsoon session of the state legislature for the alleged derogatory comments against Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar.
The motion had been tabled by Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik, taking offence to the way Republic TV chief referred to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and other ministers during his coverage of Sushant Singh Rajput death case.
After the Assembly alleged that no response was received, a second notice was served to Arnab Goswami and a response was sought by the 20th of October.
A third notice was served to Goswami where Maharashtra Legislature Secretariat issued a notice to Arnab Goswami, chief of Republic TV, for breach of privilege for submitting a copy of the proceedings of the Assembly in the Supreme Court without the Speaker’s permission. The notice was served on October 13 and a written clarification has been sought from Goswami by October 15, the secretariat said in a statement on Wednesday.
