Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 16 (PTI) Various journalist bodies on Wednesday strongly condemned the Kerala Police raid at the Kochi headquarters of Malayalam news channel Reporter TV, with the Press Club of India alleging disruption of journalistic activities and intimidation of journalists.
The Press Club of India, in a statement, alleged that the police seized journalists’ personal mobile phones during the search.
“This kind of disruption of journalistic activities and intimidation of journalists at work goes against the values of a free press enshrined in India’s Constitution,” it said.
The organisation also alleged that the police misused a warrant meant for the administrative block of the building to enter the newsroom and disrupt journalists’ work, saying this went against due process.
The Press Club of India urged the Kerala Police to refrain from acting against journalists in this manner.
The Thiruvananthapuram district committee of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) also strongly protested the alleged entry of police into the news channel headquarters.
“Such actions, which question the freedom of functioning of media organisations and the rights of journalists, cannot be accepted in a democratic society,” it said.
The Union also said the situation in which police enter media organisations should be viewed seriously and demanded that an environment be ensured for journalists to work independently and that unnecessary interference in the functioning of media organisations be avoided.
The KUWJ-led Ernakulam Press Club said the police search was an “encroachment on press freedom.” “It is unacceptable that the police entered the office and conducted a search without any prior notice and in a manner that disrupted the functioning of the media organisation,” it said in a statement.
The police did not follow the prescribed procedures and the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court for conducting searches at a media organisation, it alleged.
The Kerala Police on Wednesday searched the Kochi headquarters of a private Malayalam news channel — Reporter TV — and premises linked to its promoters as part of a probe into alleged financial irregularities surrounding the failed Lionel Messi-Argentina football event in the state, triggering a political row over the action.
The searches, conducted at five locations in Kochi and Wayanad, including the office of Reporter Broadcasting Company (RBC), the residences of its promoters, the Augustine brothers, and their ancestral home in Wayanad, were carried out on the basis of court-issued warrants, police said.
The search at the RBC office, which houses the Reporter TV newsroom, led to allegations by the channel that police entered the news desk and took away mobile phones used by journalists and other employees, disrupting its news operations.
The police, however, denied seizing any mobile phone and said the search was aimed at collecting documents connected with the investigation.
Meanwhile, BJP national secretary K Surendran sought to know why the residence of former Sports Minister V Abdurahiman was not searched in connection with the allegations.
“Why was the house of former Sports Minister V Abdurahiman not searched? It is not a proper investigation method to exclude those with political connections and investigate only others,” he told a press conference here.
As then Sports Minister, Abdurahiman was the principal government figure who promoted and coordinated the proposed Argentina-Messi match in Kochi, which later failed to materialise.
“The government should not think that it can escape by diverting attention and putting dust in people’s eyes. If it is sincere, the government should be ready for central agencies to investigate all aspects of the financial transactions related to the Messi event,” he said. PTI LGK ROH
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