Karnataka High Court has stayed criminal cases against Arnab Goswami and Amit Malviya. They were accused of spreading false claims about Congress having an office in Turkey.
The Karnataka High Court has temporarily stopped legal action against BJP leader Amit Malviya and Republic TV’s Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, who were accused of spreading false news that the Indian National Congress (INC) has an office in Istanbul, Turkey.
Justice S Rachiah passed this order on Thursday after both Malviya and Goswami filed petitions to cancel the criminal cases filed against them.
Apart from this, Amit Malviya was also booked in a separate case for posting a photo on social media.
The image showed half the face of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and the other half as the face of Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir.
The caption in the image suggested that Rahul Gandhi was repeating the views of Pakistan after India’s military action called Operation Sindoor.
In the caption, Malviya had questioned,
“whether Gandhi was aiming for Nishan-e-Pakistan, the highest civilian honour conferred in Pakistan.”
Malviya has also filed a request to cancel this second case.
The Court has paused both cases until the next hearing.
The Congress party, in its complaint against Arnab Goswami and Amit Malviya, accused them of “masterminding a heinous and criminally motivated campaign to disseminate patently false information” by claiming that the “Istanbul Congress Centre” in Turkey was an official INC office.
Congress said that the purpose of this false claim was to damage the party’s reputation, cause public tension, and threaten national security and democracy, especially during a time when India’s relationship with Turkey is tense.
This tension started after Turkey supported Pakistan at the United Nations following the Pahalgam terror attack and India’s strong military reply, Operation Sindoor.
The INC filed several complaints across the country, including one in Karnataka.
On May 20, Republic TV issued a public apology (corrigendum) regarding a video that mistakenly showed a building as Congress’s office in Turkey.
Republic TV explained that it was a technical mistake by a video editor.
According to the channel,
“an incorrect image was inadvertently used, depicting a building as the Congress office in Turkey, by a video editor on the digital desk.”
The statement added,
“The image had no connection to the content or context of the said video. This clip was not broadcast on Arnab Goswami’s debate show on 15th May 2025 or thereafter and was not taken on-air nor was the said erroneous image in any way related to the subject matter being discussed … the inadvertent error occurred after the live show ended and was carried on the digital platform … The moment it was brought to our attention, it was promptly rectified. We sincerely and unconditionally regret the error.”
The next day, on May 21, another controversy erupted after a post from Amit Malviya’s X (Twitter) handle.
He wrote that even if Congress files many legal cases, it still hasn’t explained why it “opened an office in Turkey in 2019” and that too “days after Turkey openly backed Pakistan at the UN on the Kashmir issue.”
Malviya’s lawyer, Senior Advocate Aruna Shyam, told the court that the complaints against Malviya are politically motivated and have no legal basis.
He also said that the original complaint used Section 352 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with “intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace” and is a bailable offence.
Later, the police added a more serious section—Section 353 of BNS—when they approached the magistrate.
Section 353 is about “statements conducing to public mischief” and is a non-bailable offence. Shyam argued, “That is how politically, petitioners have been targeted.”
He also questioned why Section 353 was applied when the post was against Rahul Gandhi.
Shyam said,
“(Gandhi) He is not an honorary person, he is opposition leader.”
In response, the State government’s lawyer said that the police have only sent notices to Malviya and Goswami and have not made any arrests.
He added that the investigation should be allowed to continue.
he said,
“We have only issued a notice. Let them cooperate with the investigation. We will see information has been disseminated, and what context,”
Arnab Goswami was represented by Senior Advocates Prabhuling Navadgi and Aruna Shyam. His petition was filed through Advocate Mahesh Arkalgud Srikant of ATV Legal Advocates & Solicitors.
Amit Malviya’s petitions were filed by Advocate Suyog Herele E of Aruna Shyam Associates.
The matter is still under consideration by the High Court, and both cases have been paused till the next hearing date.
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