Earlier Telangana High Court denied the anticipatory bail and observed that the journalist received a grievous injury and underwent surgery.
Published Jan 09, 2025 | 4:20 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 09, 2025 | 4:20 PM
Mohan Babu. (X)
On Monday, 9 January, the Supreme Court granted interim relief to actor Mohan Babu by ordering that no coercive actions should be taken by the police against him in the case of assaulting a journalist.
The alleged assault occurred when the media reached the actor’s residence on 10 December, to report on his ongoing family feud. According to the video of the incident, the TV9 reporter was questioning the actor regarding the same when the latter snatched the mike from the reporter and hit him on his head.
Following the attack, Mohan Babu was booked under under Section 118 (1)of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) initially. The police later altered to section 109 (attempt to murder) of BNS following the detailed statement of the reporter.
According to the report by Livelaw, a bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Prashant Kumar Mishra issued notice returnable 4 weeks in a Special Leave Petition filed by Mohan Babu against the 23 December order of the Telangana High Court denying him anticipatory bail.
The Telangana High Court while denying the anticipatory bail observed that the journalist received a grievous injury and underwent surgery.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who is representing Mohan Babu noted that, in the heat of the moment, the actor threw the mic on the journalist, for which he is willing to issue a public apology and even compensate if required.
Responding to Rohatgi’s claim that the senior actor had visited the journalist in hospital to apologise, the counsel appearing for the journalist stated that, Babu had gone to threaten the journalist to take back his complaint.
Rohatgi was reported as saying: “This is not a case where the man should be in jail. A scuffle has happened and I apologise. Now, they have added an attempt to murder….I can compensate, I can apologise…It happened in the spur of the moment. 20 people barged into my house. They had no reason…I am a well-known actor. I am not interested in killing or hurting somebody.”
(Edited by Sumavarsha)
