Delhi High Court issues notice to Arnab Goswami in case of alleged 'theft' filed by BCCL

The Delhi High Court has issued notices to journalists Arnab Goswami (managing director of Republic TV), reporter Prema Sridevi and ARG Outlier (owner of Republic TV) in the case of alleged infringement of copyright and property theft filed by Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL), reported The Times of India. [caption id=“attachment_3400160” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Arnab Goswami. News18[/caption] “It is well settled law that an employee has to maintain confidentiality and utmost fidelity towards his employer. Accordingly, the defendants can be restrained from breaching the contract — reproducing or misusing the confidential information of the plaintiff and using or telecasting the same as that would amount to infringement of the plaintiff ’s rights,” the report quoted the court as saying. BCCL, also known as the Times Group, runs the news channel Times Now and had alleged commission of offences of theft, criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of property and infringement of the company’s intellectual properties by Republic TV. Two ’exposés’ by Republic TV allegedly displayed material, in the form of audio tapes of phone conversations, that was procured and accessed while Goswami and Prema were in the employment of Times Now. Audio tapes played during two stories aired on Republic TV — on the Sunanda Pushkar case and Lalu Prasad Yadav — are the ones which have caused all the trouble for Goswami’s channel. BCCL had alleged that Goswami and Prema Sridevi have acknowledged that the audio conversation in the ’expose’ relating to Sunanda Pushkar case was in their possession for the last two years while they were employed with Times Now. On the other hand, Goswami had responded to the allegations and called the case a “David versus Goliath fight.” “Goliaths can sit in the police station and David will sit in the news room,” Goswami had said. “Goliath is down to his knees,” he had also said. With inputs from PTI