Anjana Om Kashyap Faces Legal Action as Lucknow Court Flags Aaj Tak Broadcast for Stirring Communal Disharmony

Moneylife Digital Team 09 September 2025

Economy & Nation

A Lucknow court has ordered the registration of a complaint case against television journalist Anjana Om Kashyap over her Independence Day broadcast on Aaj Tak, following allegations that the programme carried divisive content capable of provoking communal disharmony.

The order was passed on a complaint filed by former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Amitabh Thakur, after local police refused to register a first information report (FIR). Mr Thakur then approached the court of judicial magistrate (JM) III in Gomtinagar, which directed that proceedings be initiated under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The broadcast in question, part of Aaj Tak’s 'Black and White' series, was aired on 14 August 2025 with the theme 'Bharat Vibhajan ka Maqsad Poora Kyon Nahi Hua?' (Why was the purpose of Partition not fulfilled?).

According to the complaint, Ms Kashyap’s framing of the question and her remarks, such as highlighting why all Muslims did not migrate to Pakistan, implicitly cast doubt on the legitimacy of Muslims remaining in India, thereby creating hostility against the community.

The petition cited excerpts from the episode, noting that Ms Kashyap said, “only 96 lakh Muslims went to Pakistan out of nearly four crore, while 83 lakh Hindus came to India.” It alleged inconsistencies in the data within the same programme, pointing out that the migration figures shifted between '96 lakh' and '72 lakh' Muslims, while Hindu migration numbers also varied. Mr Thakur claimed this amounted to deliberate distortion to suit a communal narrative.

The complaint invoked Sections 196 (promoting enmity between groups), 197 (assertions prejudicial to national integration), and 353(2) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the BNS, arguing that the broadcast was 'mischievous, venomous, and divisive'. It added that such content risked 'raking up a painful historical wound' and could 'induce fissures and even violence' between Hindus and Muslims.

A key question before the court was whether Lucknow had jurisdiction, since the broadcast was made outside the city. Mr Thakur argued that under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the programme was accessible online and viewed in Gomtinagar, making it a 'continuing offence' within local jurisdiction. The magistrate accepted this reasoning, citing precedents where courts across India entertained defamation and speech-related cases away from the site of original remarks, including several against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Mr Thakur’s complaint further stressed that the programme undermined India’s secular fabric. “Any suggestion that Muslims should have left India is prima facie factually incorrect, mischievous, and objectionable,” it said, arguing that such framing went against the spirit of national integration envisioned since Independence.

The court has now ordered the complaint to be registered and directed Mr Thakur to record his statement on 30 September 2025. The next hearing in the case is on 11 December 2025.

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