New Delhi: Journalist Prateek Goyal, who has been involved in a legal tussle with the Sakal Media Group from March this year after he had reported about the layoffs at the organisation, continues to be harassed by the Pune Police, according to a report published by the Newslaundry.
Sakal Media Group has close links to the powerful Pawar family. While Abhijit Pawar, who is the nephew of Sharad Pawar is the managing director, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief’s brother Pratap G. Pawar is the chairman of the board of directors. MP Supriya Sule (Sharad Pawar’s daughter) and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who is another nephew of Sharad Pawar, is on the board.
The report says that on October 30, Goyal secured anticipatory bail from a district court in the ongoing case. On the subsequent day, when he went to the Vishrambaug police station in Pune – where an FIR was filed against him – the journalist said he was threatened by police.
“You think you can damage Sakal? Sakal can buy 50 reporters like you. They are too big and you aren’t even a journalist. You don’t have a press like Sakal. What is Newslaundry, it is just an online thing,” the station house officer, Dadasaheb Chuddappa said, according to Goyal.
When Goyal tried to explain to the police officer that he was merely doing his job by reporting instances of media owners firing their employees, he was cut short and was told “you just dare use their [Sakal Times] logo again. I will put you guys in lockup.”
Goyal and his employer Newslaundry ran into a dispute with the Sakal Media Group, one of the largest media houses in Maharashtra, when Goyal reported that the media group had sacked 15 employees of the Sakal Times after the lockdown was imposed in March. Newslaundry’s report pointed out that it was in clear violation of the government’s order not to terminate employees during the pandemic.
Recounting what had transpired in the police station that day, Goyal said when he was doing the paperwork, a police officer had told him that though they were unwilling to lodge a complaint against him, they were unable to resist the pressure mounted by the Maharashtra home ministry to register an FIR. The NCP is one of the three coalition partners in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra.
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On November 1, Goyal had received a call from Deepak Jadhav, the investigating officer, asking him to submit his laptop at the police station the next day. When asked for a copy of the order detailing the seizure of his laptop by Goyal, the police officer responded that a verbal order was enough.
Goyal also asked if the police would provide the hash value of his laptop if he handed it over. According to rules, when the police seize a digital device, they are required to provide the owner with its hash value, a numeric value that will change if the device is used or tampered with. The hash value, therefore, acts as an electronic seal on the device. However, Jadhav said he could not entertain the request.
Logos of Newslaundry and Sakal Media Group.
A relentless campaign
Following the report about the sacking of 15 journalists at the Sakal Times in March, the Newslaundry also reported that within two-and-half-months, another 50-60 employees of the organisation were laid off by the Sakal Times.
Sakal Media Group responded with a defamation notice of Rs 65 crore on June 16 against Newslaundry, alleging that the latter’s reports were “false and defamatory”. Newslaundry rejected the allegations and noted that they had not published reports against Sakal Times with “mala fide intention” or to “settle scores”, as was being portrayed. The online portal asserted that they had duly carried out journalistic checks, and pointed out that they had reached out Sakal Times for clarification on layoffs as mandated by journalistic ethics. Newslaundry had also published the clarification offered by Sakal Times.
The portal said that instead of explaining what was wrong with its reports, Sakal Media Group went ahead and filed a complaint against Goyal. On September 16, the chief administrative officer of the media group, Mahendra Pisal, lodged a complaint, based on which an FIR was registered.
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In his complaint, Pisal accused Goyal of “cunningly” misusing the group’s logo while publishing reports, without seeking permission. The complaint further alleged that because of the reports published by Goyal, the group began facing huge economic losses and its employees and stakeholders were “severely affected”.
Following the complaint, Goyal’s request for a copy of the FIR was rejected by the Vishrambaug station house officer Dadasaheb Chuddappa.
At this point, Newslaundry moved the Bombay high court to seek quashing of the FIR and approached the Pune district court to seek anticipatory bail.
The high court on October 20 ruled that the police could proceed with the investigation, but said a chargesheet could not be filed without its permission. The matter will be heard again on November 24.