News channel MD gets bail from court

NOIDA: The Allahabad high court has granted bail to a third TV news channel staffer who was arrested for allegedly posting and airing defamatory content about the UP chief minister.
Ishika Singh, the managing director of Noida-based Nation Live channel who had been jailed since June 9, was granted relief on Tuesday. Anuj Shukla, the managing editor, got bail the same day, while his colleague Anshul Kaushik, who worked as a news anchor, was granted relief on July 19.
The fourth accused, channel head Ajay Shah, who was not arrested, has been granted interim bail by the Surajpur court.
Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the court took note that while the additional government advocate (AGA) vehemently opposed the plea, he conceded that “no specific offence has been committed by the applicant which is punishable under the provisions of the IT Act or any law.”
According to Raj Kumar Kesari, the lawyer for Ishika Singh, in case a channel was running without a licence, an offence was made out under sections of the IT Act and not sections of the IPC that the Noida police had invoked, including 467, 468 and 471. “The court noted the arguments and said that the case was fit for bail,” he said.
Ishika had contended that she was innocent and was “falsely implicated”.
The court laid down certain conditions, including that the applicant should not tamper with prosecution evidence, not threaten prosecution witnesses, shall appear on date fixed by trial court and shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade the person from disclosing facts to the court.