<p>The Supreme Court on Friday granted protection from arrest to Zee News Editor Rajnish Ahuja in connection with FIRs registered against him for broadcasting a false news report claiming that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi condoned the recent killing of a man in Udaipur.</p>.<p>A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and J B Pardiwala sought a response from the states of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and the Centre on the petition by Ahuja. The court issued notice to the states on the petition and ordered to list the matter along with that of anchor Rohit Ranjan. </p>.<p>After hearing senior advocate Siddharth Dave for the petitioner, the court ordered, "There shall be no coercive action against the editor with respect to the FIRs registered or the future ones."</p>.<p>Dave said that FIRs were registered against the petitioner in Raipur in Chattisgarh and Sikar in Rajasthan.</p>.<p>On July 1, a programme named DNA was telecast by the channel wherein a doctored video was run, alleging branding the Udaipur attackers as "children" and saying they should be pardoned.</p>.<p>However, the original video had Rahul Gandhi's comments on the SFI attack at his Wayanad office, which was "deliberately and mischievously" doctored to make it appear as if it was a remark on the murder in Udaipur.</p>.<p>An unconditional apology was tendered by the anchor and Zee news and the show was withdrawn. Earlier on July 8, the court had granted similar protection to Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan on his plea for quashing multiple FIRs with regard to the telecast.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court on Friday granted protection from arrest to Zee News Editor Rajnish Ahuja in connection with FIRs registered against him for broadcasting a false news report claiming that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi condoned the recent killing of a man in Udaipur.</p>.<p>A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and J B Pardiwala sought a response from the states of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and the Centre on the petition by Ahuja. The court issued notice to the states on the petition and ordered to list the matter along with that of anchor Rohit Ranjan. </p>.<p>After hearing senior advocate Siddharth Dave for the petitioner, the court ordered, "There shall be no coercive action against the editor with respect to the FIRs registered or the future ones."</p>.<p>Dave said that FIRs were registered against the petitioner in Raipur in Chattisgarh and Sikar in Rajasthan.</p>.<p>On July 1, a programme named DNA was telecast by the channel wherein a doctored video was run, alleging branding the Udaipur attackers as "children" and saying they should be pardoned.</p>.<p>However, the original video had Rahul Gandhi's comments on the SFI attack at his Wayanad office, which was "deliberately and mischievously" doctored to make it appear as if it was a remark on the murder in Udaipur.</p>.<p>An unconditional apology was tendered by the anchor and Zee news and the show was withdrawn. Earlier on July 8, the court had granted similar protection to Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan on his plea for quashing multiple FIRs with regard to the telecast.</p>
