Queency Jain–
Allahabad High Court has refused to grant bail to a journalist accused of inducing a man to commit suicide to telecast the same on television thereby, observing that a journalist is not expected to dramatize a sensational and horrifying incident and make news out of it.
The decision comes after the accused Shameen Ahmad moved to Allahabad High Court urging for bail after he was booked under Sections 109, 306, 504, 506, 511 of the Indian Penal Code and was arrested.
Ahmad was accused of inducing a man to put himself on fire in front of the Vidhan Sabha Bhawan to film the incident by videography and telecast the same on national television. This inducement comes after the landlord of the man asked him and his wife to vacate the house and look for another accommodation.
During the hearing, the Court observed that the wife of the man deceased, after he set himself on fire, is currently under mental trauma & financial distress and thus the prima facie case is established.
Having seen the CCTV footage of the incident, the Court observed that instead of helping the man, the accused along with his co-accused, was filming the entire incident and it was the Police who had to rush in between and come there to help the man. Though, even after taken to the hospital, the man died.
The Court, considering all the facts of the case, rejected the bail application on grounds that if the bail will be granted, there can be tampering of evidence and a great danger to the life of the complainant, i.e. the wife of the man deceased.