The recent attack on a leading Kerala daily Mathrubhumi was on Wednesday strongly condemned by H N Cama, PTI Chairman, who said that those responsible for the incident should be punished.

"Such an act of cowardice against freedom of speech and expression must be dealt with in the strongest possible way and those behind this unfortunate incident should be punished in an appropriate manner," said Cama, a former president of Indian Newspaper Society (INS), the premier Indian media body.

On May 31, Mathrubhumi newspaper's Kottakkal unit was attacked in which staff present were injured and furniture damaged.

Cama said, "An attack on media is an attack on democracy.

Mathrubhumi and all other media organisations will never be cowed down by such acts of cowardice, and will only rise from strength to strength to ensure that the people of India's right to receive correct information is never suppressed."

He said attacks on respected organisations like Mathrubhumi are on the rise and must be condemned very strongly by both the public and the government.