Wondering why top anchors were spotted at a POCSO court? Unravelling the 2013 case against them

Deepak Chaurasia, Chitra Tripathi and others are among those accused for broadcasting ‘edited’, ‘obscene’ videos of a child and linking them to Asaram Bapu’s rape case.

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Wondering why top anchors were spotted at a POCSO court? Unravelling the 2013 case against them
Shambhavi Thakur
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A group of TV journalists emerged from a special POCSO court in Gurugram on June 6. They ducked their heads, ignoring questions being hurled at them from media personnel: “How come you are in the court, sir? For which case are you here? People want to know...On TV, they keep shouting but here, they are not uttering a word.”

Among the TV journalists were former News24 managing editor Ajit Anjum, Aaj Tak anchor Chitra Tripathi, and former News Nation anchor Deepak Chaurasia.

They are among eight people chargesheeted in 2020 and 2021 for airing “edited”, “obscene” videos of a 10-year-old child and her family in 2013, and linking the video to the sexual assault case against self-styled godman Asaram Bapu. In the first and supplementary chargesheets, the police claimed that arresting the accused would lead to a “law and order” situation.

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