A day after he was arrested in connection with the Assembly of huge crowds in front of the Bandra railway station, Rahul Kulkarni, a correspondent with a Marathi news channel, was granted bail by a Mumbai court on Thursday.
Kulkarni, Osmanabad-based correspondent of ABP Majha news channel, was produced before a Bandra Magistrate Court which released him on a bail of Rs 15,000.
On a day when several media persons demanded that investigations be carried out arresting journalists, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut expressed his happiness that Kulkarni had been granted bail by the court.
The Bandra police on Wednesday morning registered an FIR against Rahul Kulkarni, arrested him later in the evening and brought to him for allegedly reporting “incorrect” news that trains would restart. The news report on ABP Majha is said to have been based on a letter written by a South Central Railway official on April 13 on a proposal for Jansadharan special trains.
Kulkarni has been charged under various sections of Indian Penal Code and Epidemic Diseases Act, according to Mumbai Police Spokesperson and DCP Pranaya Ashok.
Meanwhile, in a statement here on Thursday, the channel has termed reports linking the migrant gathering with its news reports as "entirely misconceived" and circulated *with the sole intention of baselessly maligning ABP Majha".
The news channel claimed that it broadcast stories in public interest and that it had valid documents and information, on the basis of which it ran multiple stories on the channel. The news channel stated that after the PM's announcement on Tuesday at 10 a.m. on continuing the lockdown, announcements later from the Ministry of Railway pertaining to cancellation of trains and refunds till May 3, the channel said from 12.30-13.30 hrs it clearly announced that no trains would be running.
"There is no conceivable way in which the crowds that gathered at the Bandra West Station from around 3:45 p.m. can be linked to our stories. To insinuate that our running of the story and the updates thereafter amount to a criminal act is outrageous," ABP Majha said in a statement
ABP Majha expressed shock and dismay over the arrest of its reporter Rahul Kulkarni and would take immediate legal measures in this regard.
The channel contended that there was no denial of the Railway Ministry's letter of April 13 recommending running of trains to return migrants to their hometowns, but after the RM's announcement that no trains would be run till May 3, 2020, it had immediately run the story on its news bulletins.
"We would like to say that before journalists are arrested there should be due verification of all facts and circumstances," ABP Majha stated.
It may be recalled that the leading Marathi television channel, which based its report filed by its Osmanabad-based television journalist Rahul Kulkarni, aired story that the Railways would run special trains from various divisions coming under its jurisdiction to ferry stranded migrants to their states.
The letter written by a senior official of the South-Central Railway – on which the journalist based his report – does not actual say it had already decided to run such special “Jansadharan” trains but it asks various Sr divisional managers to submit detailed proposals giving details of originating and destination stations.