Freedom of press is indispensable to democracy, observed the Calcutta High Court as it granted anticipatory bail to a journalist who was booked in an extortion case after he shot videos on illegal mining, Bar and Bench reported.

Ranjit Das, a journalist from ABP Ananda, claimed that he was framed after he had shot videos of illegal sand mining. However, the police said that Das had indulged in extorting money from some persons. 

A division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi reportedly granted anticipatory bail to the journalist after taking note of the submission that he may have been falsely implicated. The court reiterated that there is a need to protect the freedom of a journalist to execute his duties. 

“Freedom of Press is indispensable to democracy. Freedom of press can be maintained by ring-fencing the press from intimidation. A journalist is part of the press and his freedom to execute his journalistic endeavours needs to be protected,” the court noted in its order on January 18, according to Bar and Bench. 

“In these circumstances, we grant anticipatory bail to the petitioner,” the bench said while ordering the authorities to release Das upon furnishing a Rs 10,000 bond and two sureties.

Das was represented by advocates Niladri Sekhar Ghosh, Sompurna Chatterjee, Sourov Mondal and Labani Sikder while additional public prosecutor Sanjoy Bardhan and Shashanka Shekhar Saha represented the State.

This report was published with AI assistance.