Gurgaon Court Dismisses Bail Application Of News Anchor Chitra Tripathi
Delhi: The Gurugram court has dismissed the anticipatory bail for TV anchor Chitra Tripathi in connection with a 2013 Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act case. The bail was rejected by citing the reason that the application was “unjustified.”
The court, on November 14, had issued a non-bailable warrant for Tripathi’s arrest for not appearing before it. A warrant was also issued against Syed Suhail, the news anchor of another TV channel.
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Eight media professionals were booked for allegedly telecasting and later uploading on the internet a video of the 10-year-old in an “obscene and vulgar manner” and linking it to a sexual assault case against self-styled godman Asaram Bapu.
Tripathi and Suhail, citing election reporting duties, had sought an exemption from personal appearance in court. Tripathi, submitting for the bail application, said that she was travelling from Nashik to Maharashtra to cover the Assembly election and interview NCP chief Ajit Pawar.
She had also submitted flight tickets and photographs of the interview with Eknath Shinde and Pawar to substantiate her application.
Similarly, Suhail submitted that he had to attend a political event in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh on account of bypolls.
However, the bail was dismissed on November 25, and the court stated that the grounds for the bail were the same as those for non-appearance. The court said that the bail was declined after “feeling dissatisfied with the reasons assigned in the said application… and since the present application is based upon the same grounds, hence it is required to be declined as this court had found those reasons to be unjustified.”
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Meanwhile, citing the interviews Tripathi had taken, the court said that keeping in view the status and busy schedule of these politicians, the interview would have been fixed earlier, and if the accused had some respect for the process of the court, she could have gotten her presence exempted by moving the exemption application personally on any other date prior to the date fixed, reports Indian Express.
The counsel for the complainant maintained that on the last two dates, the presence of accused Tripathi was exempted on health grounds, but now, no justifiable ground is made out to exempt the presence of the accused.
