Case against Asianet News reporter: Champions of free speech have shown their true colour, says BJP
By Team Newsable | First Published Jun 11, 2023, 8:44 AM ISTMaharaja's marklist controversy: BJP lashes out at the Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala for filing an FIR against Asianet News Chief Reporter Akhila Nandakumar for reporting on the marklist controversy in Maharaja's College.
There is widespread condemnation of the Kerala Police action against Asianet News chief reporter in Kochi, Akhila Nandakumar, for merely reporting on the mark list controversy in Maharaja's College.
Political leaders have alleged that the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front government is trying to curb the freedom of the media in the state.
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The Kerala Police filed a First Information Report based on a complaint from Students' Federation of India state secretary PM Arsho, claiming a conspiracy against him. The Kochi Police even formed a special investigation team to probe the case based on Arsho's complaint. They took the statements of the first two accused, Maharaja's College Principal V S Joy and Department of Archeology head Dr Vinod Kumar. They allegedly testified that the mark list controversy against the SFI state secretary was only a technical glitch and there was no conspiracy.
The Kochi Police's action to include the Asianet News chief reporter as one of the accused in the alleged conspiracy case has sparked a wave of condemnation.
Taking to Twitter, the Minister of State for External Affairs & Parliamentary Affairs said: "Absurd and pathetic. Strongly condemn the @pinarayivijayan
Govt's high Handedness on Media for reporting a story on the Marks - sheet fraud. It's undemocratic & clear encroachment on Press Freedom.
Shame that self-proclaimed flag bearers of media did this.
"It's @pinarayivijayan & @CPIMKerala's Gundaraj Ruling the State. SFI goons can attack teachers, forge certificates.... do anything & go Scott-free. Shame!," he added.
Kerala BJP chief K Surendran termed the police action as outrageous. He took to Twitter to say, "The police action against @AsianetNewsML
reporter Akhila Nandakumar is outrageous. Akhila went to cover the news of SFI leader's fake marksheet and now she is 5th accused in a fabricated case. We have been consistently raising the issue of Kerala police behaving like the B-team of @CPIMKerala and time and again, we are proven right. Under @pinarayivijayan, Kerala is witnessing police raj and even journalists are not spared."
In another post, he said: "The Kerala Police has registered a case against the @AsianetNewsML reporter Mrs Akhila Nandakumar for reporting the news related to SFI State Secretary PM Arsho. The so-called champions of free speech have shown their true colour. Strongly condemn the police action against Akhila."
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