A Malayalam news channel’s decision to play down police action against its own crew members has raised questions about the pliability of media under the Left Front government in Kerala.
The police action that took place on 30 April came to light only on 19 May when the largest circulated Malayalam daily Malayala Manorama chose to report the incident without naming the news channel Mathrubhumi News. The paper had reported that the police have forcibly seized the mobile phones of crew members without giving sufficient explanation for the same.
It was rival Asianet News channel that took up the cudgels for fellow journalists, raising questions about increasing intolerance against media persons under the Pinarayi Vijayan government.
The Pinarayi government on Saturday completed two years on its second term in power. The police have booked a Mathrubhumi News crew for allegedly photographing the accused in the train burning case of 2 April while he was being brought to Kerala after his arrest in Maharashtra.
While the photographing incident happened on 5 April, strangely the Kerala police have filed an FIR only on 30 April. According to the FIR, the police vehicle ferrying the train fire accused, Shahrukh Saifi, was on its way to Kozhikode on 5 April when the Mathrubhumi crew “waylaid” it between Bhatkal and Udupi in Karnataka and took photographs of Saifi and the police personnel.
The police have claimed in the FIR that even as they tried to drive away, the crew members (said to be three in number) chased them on an SUV and bikes causing the police team “to fear for their lives”. But there is no record of the police team seeking help from their counterparts in Karnataka if their lives were in such danger as claimed in the FIR. Also questions have been raised as to how a three-man media crew could pose such a threat to an armed police team.
That the Kerala Police’s handling of the accused in a major “terrorist attack” was replete with lapses including the breakdown of the vehicle in which the accused was being brought at the highest level is another story altogether. The police claim that the FIR was registered following a complaint lodged by DSP Abdul Rahim. However, it is reported that the FIR does not name the accused persons.
In a related incident, the government on Thursday suspended a highly decorated officer Inspector General of Police P. Vijayan pending a probe into alleged leak of travel details of the team involved in bringing Saifi from Maharashtra. Vijayan was Kerala ATS chief at that time and he had every right to call up team members to know about their travel plans. Subsequently Vijayan was removed from ATS on 27 April. Intense political rivalry at the top level of the police, which is said to have intensified after the Left Front’s second term, is said to be the reason behind action against Vijayan.
The case against the news channel crew was registered under sections 342 (wrongful restraint), 353(assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging duty), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 506 (criminal intimation) and 34 (criminal act by several persons furthering common interest) of the Indian Penal Code. It is reported that the channel crew members have appeared before the investigating officer after notices were served to them. But the channel per se has so far not reported about the incident which has baffled many political observers as well as legal experts. The Mathrubhumi News channel is owned by M.V. Shreyams Kumar belonging to Janata Dal (S) who is a partner in the ruling Left Front. The CPM fielding candidates with JD(S) support in Karnataka opposing Congress and losing even the deposits had figured in political spat between Congress and CPM in Kerala in the aftermath of Karnataka elections. This was said to be the reason why the Congress party did not invite Pinarayai Vijayan for the swearing in ceremony in Bengalurru. The CPM Politburo member Prakash Karat had expressed his indignation over Pinarayi not being invited to the swearing in at a party function in Kozhikode greeted with applause from the cadre.
CPM sources say that Asianet News channel has an axe to grind against the party and Pinarayi Vijayan in particular. They cite this as the reason why the channel is playing up a plain police case. “They are anti-communist. After all, the channel is owned by a BJP man,” one CPM member said.
The channel has been in the forefront in bringing out many irregularities regarding government functioning and has been highly critical about the chief minister’s handling of the Home portfolio. Asianet News channel has also been on the receiving end. Three of its senior journalists are facing charges under the POCSO Act for allegedly screening a photograph of an adolescent connected with a report on drug trafficking in the state.
As recently as March, the Kerala Police had raided the offices of Asianet New channel in Kozhikode following a complaint from Left legislator P.V. Anwar that the channel had fabricated news relating to drug trafficking in the state, a growing menace.
Anwar had raised the issue in the state Assembly the previous week and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had promised to take action. Within two days the police had raided the news channel’s offices. The case against the news channel is still going on. At that time, the opposition unanimously condemned the police action saying it was a move aimed at stifling independent media and had asked the CPM central leadership to react. Earlier, the CPM’s trade wing CITU had organised a protest march to all the offices of Asianet following one of its popular anchors Vinu V. John questioned certain remarks by union leader and Rajya Sabha MP Elamaram Kareem during a state-sponsored shut down in the state. The police had registered a case against the anchor and CPM continued to boycott him professionally.
The CPM’s antipathy against the media was in evidence recently in one of the channel discussions when one of the party panelists in the discussion went on referring to the microphone used by television journalists as “kole” (meaning stick in Malayalam) despite the anchor reminding him many times that it is one of the vital instruments in their profession.