The Kerala assembly on Monday witnessed uproarious scenes as the Congress-led opposition moved an adjournment motion in the assembly and slammed chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan over Sunday’s police raid on the Asianet News channel office in Kozhikode.
The adjournment motion was however turned down by assembly Speaker A N Shamseer following which the Congress members staged a walkout.
Moving the adjournment motion, Congress legislator P C Vishnunadh said the police action on the channel was “a well planned and targeted ” after it broke several stories against the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kannur, it’s north Kerala stronghold.
Also Read: Kerala police raid Asianet News channel two days after SFI members intimidate staff
“The raid on media office was never heard of in the state. This is nothing but intimidating tactics to silence the channel,” Vishnunadh said. He alleged that it was an attack on “press freedom” and those who shed enough tears about the income tax raid on the BBC office in Delhi were silent now.
CM Vijayan, while replying to the adjournment motion, said the channel’s alleged conduct of “disseminating a fake video” by misusing a minor girl cannot be seen as journalism and such acts will not invite protection under the law eligible to the press. “Criminal acts cannot come under the garb of press freedom,” he said.
Kerala police on Sunday conducted an “inspection” in the Kozhikode office of the popular Malayalam channel against a complaint filed by CPI(M)-backed legislator P V Anwar who accused the channel of conducting a fake interview as part of its series titled “Narcotics is a dirty business” in last November.
In the interview telecast on Nov 10, a 14-year-old girl alleged that she was abused after being forced to use the synthetic drug. Anwar alleged that the interview was fake and shot with another girl. However, the girl’s parents and channel correspondent stood their ground.
The chief minister justified the police action saying it was not a raid but police visited the office to take a statement after they received a complaint. On Friday a group of Student Federation of India (SFI) activists allegedly barged into the news channel’s office and threatened its employees. Later police arrested six SFI workers on a complaint lodged by the TV channel.
Also Read: Actor assault case: Kerala HC turns down bail plea of main accused Pulsar Suni
V D Satheesan, the leader of the opposition in the Kerala assembly, shot back asking how a news series against the drug mafia will affect the government.
Satheesan said the video in question did not show the girl’s face and it was probably an illustrated visual. He said papers and channels often give representative images and visuals and that police already filed a case based on the girl’s interview and which was backed by the child’s parents.
Slamming Vijayan, he said, “You were waiting for an opportunity to target the Kannur correspondent who broke many stories for the channel. If you have a complaint you can approach designated agencies but using police and student activists are quite unheard of.”
The CM said the channel portrayed the government and its education system in a “bad light” to increase its viewership and that the incident “cannot be compared with the BBC raid in Delhi.” He quoted extensively from Emergency days when the media was targeted and journalists were arrested.
