In Delhi High Court, Single Bench of Justice Jayant Nath, today passed an interim injunction restraining Arnab Goswami’s Company ARG Outlier Media Private Limited from using “News Hour”. The feature of News hour or any other similar trademark which is misleadingly similar to the trademark ‘NEWS HOUR’ of Time Now cannot be now used by the Republic TV.

The court has stated that a detailed examination of all the evidence is required regarding the tagline, ‘Nation wants to know’. Therefore, for the time being, ARG is allowed to use the same as part of the speech/presentation of any news channel among others. On the other hand, the High Court has ordered if ARG Outlier Media Private Limited chooses to use the same as a trademark with respect to any of their goods/services, then they are required to maintain accounts for such usage. The Delhi HC in its judgment has further stated that such accounts shall be filed in court regularly on an affidavit of one of the directors of ARG once in every six months. Regarding the issue of proprietary of tagline ‘Nation wants to know’, a contention raised by Times Group, the Single Judge Bench did not give any findings and left the issue to be decided after evidence has been laid.

ARG Outlier had earlier, in 2017, given an undertaking that they will not use the programming material of TIMES NOW when the Times Network had filed a suit for breach of confidentiality in Delhi High Court against it. In a parallel development, editor-in-chief of Republic TV, Arnab Goswami was reported to be appearing before Mumbai Police today in connection with the probe into the alleged TRP scam case. After Goswami’s lawyer had submitted a plea, he was earlier exempted from appearing before Mumbai Police on October 16.

The FIR filed by the Mumbai Police, which began the chain of events and reactions, claimed that some channels have manipulated TRPs (Television Rating Point), which then decides who gets more advertisements. Mumbai Police has recently filed a fresh FIR against Republic TV and its employees for allegedly maligning the police’s image and inciting ‘disaffection’ among the police officers against Commissioner Param Bir Singh. This second FIR by Mumbai police also names the channel’s executive editor, two reporters, anchor, and several editorial staff members.

Special Branch-1 (SB1), which is the intelligence wing of the Mumbai Police lodged the new FIR. A sub-inspector at the Social Media Lab (SML), filed the FIR, which was registered at the NM Joshi Marg police station.

As per the FIR, the police officials at SML observed on October 22 that Republic TV channel broadcasted a show under its segment ‘Biggest Story Tonight’. That particular show had allegedly claimed that Commissioner Param Bir Singh is spoiling the Mumbai Police’s image and that his orders are not acceptable to the junior officials in the department. The complainant said in the FIR, “By broadcasting such content, the channel and its journalists intentionally tried to incite disaffection among the police personnel against the police commissioner and the act also maligns the Mumbai Police’s image.”

Interestingly, this is the fourth criminal case filed by the Mumbai Police against Republic TV channel and its employees. Apart from this recent FIR and the TRP case, Goswami already has two FIRs registered against him at the Pydhonie police station and NM Joshi Marg police station respectively on charges of instigating communal tension and spreading hatred between two communities.

The TRP case recently saw a twist when an FIR was registered in Hazratganj police station in Lucknow which brought the CBI into the picture on the recommendation of the UP government.   CBI had registered an FIR against unidentified people in a case of alleged manipulation of Television Rating Points (TRP) on a payment, based on the complaint filed in Uttar Pradesh. Many observed that this was done to weaken the investigation done by the Mumbai police in the TRP case. The FIR registered at Hazratganj police station in Lucknow was based on a complaint of an advertising company promoter and was handed over to the CBI by the UP government.  A senior UP home department official said the case was referred to the CBI on the recommendation of the director-general of police (DGP).

Television rating points (TRPs), the centre of the contention, are calculated in India by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) using a device called Bar-O-Meter, which has been installed in over 45,000 households across the country. The device collects data about a program or channel watched by members of these households based on which weekly ratings are issued by BARC.

An officer in the Mumbai Police said, “We are investigating the role of these channels, and depending on evidence we find, we will decide whether they are to be charged or not.” Meanwhile, the Mumbai police in its investigation in the TRP case have added the IPC sections (174, 179, 201, and 204) related to not responding to an order by a public servant, refusing to answer public servant authorized to question, and destruction of evidence to the FIR in the ongoing probe into the ‘TRP scam’. Mumbai Police Commissioner PB Singh had revealed that an organization named ‘Hansa’ was helping these channels in trying to manipulate the TRPs. The Mumbai Police CP said that around 2,000 barometers installed in Mumbai were being used to manipulate TRPs.

The author is a student member of Amity Centre of Happiness.