The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the immediate release of a 70-year-old journalist, saying merely laughing at a derogatory statement did not make him a “conspirator”.

The bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Manmohan was dealing with the bail plea of Kommineni Srinivasa Rao, a journalist with Sakshi TV who was arrested on June 9 after moderating a talk show in which a panellist allegedly made derogatory remarks about women from Amaravati, referring to the region as a “capital of prostitutes”.

Rao was arrested by Andhra Pradesh police for hosting the show that brought disrepute and denigrated women from Amaravati, the state capital.

“If someone makes an outrageous statement, we laugh about it. He’s not saying it himself. If he has laughed, it does not make him a conspirator,” the bench told senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Sidharth Luthra, appearing for the state government.

The government had alleged that Rao, by conducting the show, was criminally liable for the outcome as he goaded the panellist to make such statements.

Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, who appeared for the journalist, said the cases registered against him were false, baseless and motivated as he had merely anchored the show. He submitted that statements made by guests on the show could not make the host criminally liable.

Rohatgi said Rao was goading and abetting the man who was making that statement and was laughing at his comment instead of stopping him.

The bench said: “He is a senior journalist aged about 70 years.”

Luthra pointed out that Rao’s bail petition was pending before the high court and he should have sought the remedy there.

Justice Mishra, heading the bench, said the court had a duty to protect journalists’ freedom of speech and expression. “Considering that the petitioner himself has not made the statement and his journalistic participation in a live TV show needs to be protected and his freedom of speech is also to be protected, we direct that the petitioner be released on bail,” the bench said while directing the trial court to impose necessary conditions on Rao.