Criticism is pouring in after the Kerala police booked Akhila Nandakumar, a reporter with Malayalam news channel Asianet News, on a complaint filed by PM Arsho, state secretary of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI, the student wing of the CPI(M)). The complaint was against a news report by Akhila alleging that Arsho, an MA Archaeology student at Maharaja’s College Ernakulam, had passed all his exams without appearing for them. Akhila, who is chief reporter of Asianet News Kochi, has been named the fifth accused in the case.
Arsho was caught in a controversy after it was alleged he had cleared his third semester exams without writing a single paper. However, he later said that he was not in Ernakulam at the time so he had not written any of the papers. The college authorities then stated that it happened due to a technical glitch at the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
Arsho lodged a complaint with state police chief Anil Kant on Thursday, June 8, based on which the Ernakulam Central Police began a probe. The case was registered on Saturday. Maharaja’s Principal VS Joy and Archaeology department head Dr Vinod Kumar are the first and second accused while Kerala Students Union (student wing of the Congress) state president Aloysious Xavier and KSU Maharaja’s unit president Fazil are the third and fourth accused. Akhila, who was at the college for another story, ended up reporting on Arsho as the KSU leader made allegations against Arsho on her live.
The police have booked the accused with 120B (criminal conspiracy), 465 (forgery), 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.
CPI(M) is the ruling party in the state while Congress is in the opposition.
Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) said that booking Akhila Nandakumar for a news report is anti-democratic and an encroachment on the freedom of the media. In a statement, KUWJ state general secretary R Kiranbabu and president MV Vineetha said that the move would destroy democratic values, and was objectionable and condemnable.
Opposition leader VD Satheesan said that booking the reporter was a move to cover up a severe crime and that it cannot be accepted at any cost. All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary KC Venugopal also condemned the move. Congress MLA and former Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said that the police move was highly objectionable.
PMA Salam, State general secretary of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), an ally of the Congress, said that the government’s (police) action was beyond autocracy. “What was the wrongdoing by Akhila? The government is afraid of the truth coming out. It is the responsibility of the media to bring the truth out,” Salam said.
Meanwhile, CPI(M) state secretary MV Govindan justified the police case and said that the same will be repeated if there is anti-government and anti-SFI propaganda. He also told the media that there is no need to compare the case with that of the Union government’s haunting of the media.