Congress moves Broadcasting Authority against Zee News over Rahul Gandhi video

The Congress accused Zee News and an anchor of the TV channel of distorting a video clip and ‘falsely and maliciously’ depicting Rahul Gandhi as a sympathiser of Kanhaiya Lal’s killers

The Congress on Wednesday filed a complaint to the News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) against Zee News and an anchor of the television channel accusing them of distorting a video clip and “falsely and maliciously” depicting former Congress president Rahul Gandhi as a sympathiser of the killers of Udaipur tailor, Kanhaiya Lal.

The Congress said that Rahul Gandhi’s comments were referring to the vandalism of the party office in Wayanad and were in no way connected with Kanhaiya Lal’s murder. (File Photo)

In a letter to the NBDSA chairperson, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the mistake of distorting the clip has not been made by any other news agency, channel or newspaper except for Zee News.

“The impugned news broadcast by Zee News had sought to falsely and maliciously suggest that former INC (Indian National Congress) President Shri Rahul Gandhi demonstrated sympathy for the killers of Kanhaiya Lal by calling them “children”,” said Khera in the letter. The senior Congress leader clarified that the comments made by Rahul Gandhi were referring to the vandalism of the party office in Wayanad and “were in no way connected with the horrifying murder of Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur.”

“It was only after numerous complaints by the INC and the public at large, wherein the distortion and falsity of the broadcast were pointed out that impugned news broadcast was taken down,” the letter said.

Zee News earlier apologised for the mistake and there were multiple FIRs in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh filed against its anchor Rohit Ranjan. The video was also shared on social media platforms by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs Rajyavardhan Rathore, Subrat Pathak and others, for which FIRs have been filed against them as well.

The Noida police on Tuesday arrested Ranjan in the same case but the Chhattisgarh police accused them of obstructing their efforts to arrest him.

On Wednesday, the Chhattisgarh police said Rohit Ranjan was absconding after their team sent to his residence in Ghaziabad could not find him there for the second time in two days.

Deputy police superintendent (Raipur), Udayan Behar said they were informed late on Tuesday night that the Uttar Pradesh police picked Ranjan for questioning and arrested him before he was released on bail. “Assuming that Ranjan will be back home after being released, we reached his residence at 8am on Wednesday. He was not there and his house was locked,” said Behar. He said they will visit Zee News office in Noida as part of their investigation.