Journalist not expected to dramatise incident and create news: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has rejected the bail plea of a reporter accused of abetting a suicide, saying a journalist is not expected to dramatise sensational incidents and create news by putting a person's life in danger. A Lucknow bench of Justice Vikas Kunvar Srivastav made the observation while rejecting the plea of city journalist Shamim Ahmad, co-accused of abetting a man's suicide and filming it outside the Uttar Pradesh assembly complex last year.

In an order, the judge said, "A journalist is not expected to dramatise a sensational and horrifying incident and make news by putting his actor in pitiable condition and in danger of death."

The journalist keeps an eye on anticipated or sudden events happening in society and brings them to the information of all people through various news media without any tampering. This is his business, the judge observed on June 21.


The order in the case was uploaded on the court's website on Thursday.

Journalists Shamim and co-accused Naushad Ahmad had allegedly contacted a man who was facing eviction from his house and induced him to set himself ablaze in front of the state assembly so that they could film the incident and telecast it on television as it could save him from being thrown out of the premises where he was staying.

The man allegedly poured oil and set himself on fire, while the accused scribes were filming it. He died at a hospital on October 24 last year.