Sushant Singh coverage: Mumbai DCP files defamation complaint against Arnab Goswami
Mumbai, Feb 3: A deputy commissioner of police (DCP) in Mumbai on Wednesday filed a criminal defamation complaint against Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami for certain claims made during the coverage of the Sushant Singh Rajput death case.
Goswami's lawyers claimed that the tweets referred to in the complaint filed by DCP Abhishek Trimukhe were from a fake Twitter account as their client "is not on social media".
Trimukhe's complaint, filed before the sessions court here, also named ARG Outlier Media Private Limited which owns Republic Media Network, and Goswami's wife, as she is one of its directors.
"There were some tweets which misrepresented Trimukhe.
He had written about it to the Maharashtra government. The state home department gave its sanction (to file a complaint)," a senior police official said.
The complaint has been filed under Indian Penal Code sections 499, 500 (defamation) and 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory).
Goswami made "grossly false", "malicious" and defamatory statements during the coverage of actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death by suicide last year, it claimed.
These defamatory statements were telecast on the channel Republic Bharat during a discussion about phone records of actor Rhea Chakraborty, Rajput's girlfriend, it said.
"The said defamatory attacks have been made with a singular view of assassinating his (Trimukhe's) official character and thereby...maliciously and deliberately causing undue humiliation of the Mumbai Police Department," the complaint said.
Goswami also tweeted the contents of the telecast to a larger audience, the complaint said.
A statement from Goswami's legal team said that "he is not on social media" and the tweets to which the complaint referred was a fake Twitter handle impersonating the journalist.
"On the other parts, the Republic Media Network will respond legally as per due process," it said.
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
