Gehlot, Pilot figure in list of Rajasthan PCC poll panel
The 28-member election committee was constituted for the upcoming state assembly polls due in December this year.
Political party leaders and journalists organisations came out against the hooliganism of the SFI, the student wing of the CPI-M, at the Kochi regional office of the Malayalam News channel, Asianet, calling it an attack against the freedom of the press.
KC Venugopal, general secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC), termed the incident as a blot on democracy and an attempt to intimidate journalists. Condemning the attack, BJP leader Prakash Javedekar said that violence against media freedom cannot be tolerated.
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Opposition Leader in the Kerala Assembly VD Satheesan said the incident reeked of fascism and was an aftermath of a conspiracy.
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Veteran journalist BRP Bhaskar said the attack is a deplorable act, without parallel in recent Kerala history.
The Press Club of India demanded that such atrocities have no place in democracy and that the state government should be ready to investigate the incident.
Protest marches were held on Saturday against the attack in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Kollam, Kannur, Thrissur, Pathanamthitta and Idukki districts under the auspices of the Kerala Journalists Union
A group of 30 SFI members entered the Asianet News regional office in Kochi, forced their way past security guards, and interfered in press operations by yelling slogans and also threatening the staff members and journalists on Friday evening.
The SFI alleged Asianet had “faked” the interview of a minor girl in connection with a news report on the drug mafia. The SFI alleged that the media house is ‘crossing the limits and is forgetting the media ethics’.
The police registered a case under IPC sections 143, 147, 149, 447 and 506. Charges of unlawful assembly, creating tension, trespassing and intimidation have been charged against the SFI workers.
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