Rajasthan High Court declines to quash FIR against former Zee Rajasthan head over extortion for news reporting

The Rajasthan High Court recently declined to quash a case of extortion and cheating against Ashish Dave, the former channel head of Zee Rajasthan [Ashish Dave v The State of Rajasthan]

A First Information Report (FIR) against Dave stands registered in Jaipur on a complaint made by Zee Media alleging that he had allegedly extorted money from various individuals and entities under threat of negative reporting against them.

Zee Media has said that pursuant to the threats, negative content was aired and circulated through the company's channels and associated digital platforms without any authorisation.

Dave moved the Court seeking to quash the FIR.

Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand, however, found that the police has recorded statements of various witnesses against Dave and several of them have accused him of demanding and receiving money under the threat of broadcasting of negative news against them. 

“After going through the contents of the impugned FIR, this Court is of the considered opinion that the allegations levelled in the impugned FIR disclose commission of a cognizable offence, and the matter requires further investigation,” the Court said.

Whether allegations made in the FIR against Dave are correct or not is the subject-matter of investigation and his plea of innocence is also required to be considered by the Investigating Officer during the course of investigation, it added.

At this stage, when investigation of the allegations is ongoing, it cannot be said that his involvement in the case is improbable or allegations levelled against him have been made with an ulterior motive either to wreak vengeance or to settle personal grudges or throw him out of employment, the Court further said. 

“It cannot be held that if, allegations made in the impugned FIR are taken on their face value, they do not prima facie constitute any offence or do not make out a case against the petitioner,” the Court ruled.

With these observations, the Court declined to grant any relief to Dave.

In the verdict, the Court also stressed that media professionals are expected to avoid causing undue harm to anyone by way of threat or extortion. This includes refraining from publishing or broadcasting the content, which constitutes harassment or defamation, the bench added.

“Media professionals are expected to print and broadcast the true and correct information in the form of news. Media Professionals, Media Houses and Organizations are expected to adhere to core principles of journalism such as truth, accuracy and impartiality. They are not supposed to threaten anyone to extort anything by causing fear or pressure of incorrect reporting. This builds pubic trust and holds the press accountable for the information they disseminate,” the Court remarked.

Senior Advocate VR Bajwa with advocates Savita Nathawat and Amar Kumar appeared for the petitioner.

Advocate General Rajendra Prasad with advocates Tanay Goyal, Rajesh Choudhary, Vivek Choudhary and Aman Kumar along with advocates Vinod Sharma, Neha Goyal, Tarun Agarwal, Satyam Chaturvedi, Mitali Kawa, Annie and Vikas Gonge appeared for respondents.

[Read Judgment]