Members of the Students Federation of India (SFI), on Friday, March 3, barged into the office of Malayalam news channel Asianet News in Kochi to protest against a news report on drug abuse and sexual assault of minors, which was telecast by the channel in November 2022. The SFI, which is the students wing of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala, during their protest march to the office of Asianet news, carried a banner which said that “this establishment is an insult to the culturally aware state of Kerala”.
Following the incident, a case was registered against 30 members of the SFI based on a complaint lodged by the news channel accusing the activists of barging into the office by pushing away security guards and intimidating their employees. According to Asianet, the SFI members have been booked under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147(rioting) and 149 (offences against public tranquillity) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Condemning the SFI protest, the Press Council of India on Friday said that such “strong arm tactics have no place in a democracy” and that the Kerala government should look into the incident swiftly. The Kerala Union of Working Journalists also condemned the SFI action.
The controversy is regarding a video interview that was featured in a series called ‘Narcotics is a dirty business’ telecast on the channel on November 10, 2022. The series covered the increasing drug use among the youth in Kerala, including school students. In one of the episodes set in Kannur, a young woman, who is said to be a Class 9 student, can be heard saying that one of her classmates provided her with drugs, citing that it would help in treating her depression. “I got addicted to it. Later on, he used to get violent with me and torture me physically and mentally. He also sexually abused me. There are 10 other students in my class as well who are abused like this,” the girl can be heard saying to a reporter.
Initially, CPI(M) members alleged that the incident reported by the channel was fake. However, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday while responding to a question raised by LDF MLA PV Anwar in the Assembly, said that there is indeed a victim and that a POCSO case was registered at the Kannur town police station based on the complaint of the victim’s father and a chargesheet has been filed in the case. But the CM also said that they have not managed to verify whether other students in her class have also been subjected to abuse, as the girl was seen saying in the news report.
The other issue raised was that this was the second time that the channel was airing similar content. The minor’s story was aired first by Asianet News in August 2022 as a report by another reporter. The audio of the August 2022 report was used for the November 2022 report too. However, in the story aired in November, a minor was made to enact the statement and the channel failed to mention that this had been reported earlier by them. This has become a huge point of debate in Kerala with questions being asked whether it was ethically or legally right on part of the channel to do so.
This resulted in widespread social media criticism against the channel, with some CPI(M) leaders alleging that the channel was peddling an agenda, and that too by using a minor, through the video report. "If there was a complaint against the news report they could have proceeded legally against it. To barge inside a media establishment and behave like goons is shocking and condemnable," said Opposition leader VD Satheesan.