Thrissur (Keralam), Sep 17 (PTI) Union Minister of State Suresh Gopi on Thursday strongly defended the recent police searches at the Kochi office of a private news channel, stating that media organisations and journalists hold no special immunity or privilege over ordinary taxpayers.
A Special Investigation Team, probing financial irregularities surrounding a failed venture to bring international football icon Lionel Messi and the Argentina national team to Keralam, conducted extensive searches at multiple locations, including newsrooms and administrative offices of the channel on Wednesday.
Reacting to a section of media’s pushback regarding the scope of the search and the seizure of personal devices, Gopi rejected the assertion that investigative agencies must adhere to territorial boundaries or show leniency when inspecting media premises.
Gopi placed media persons on equal footing with every other citizen, questioning any implicit demand for preferential treatment during lawful investigations.
Ordinary citizens generally do not resist officials entering and searching their homes, nor can they simply stop them at the courtyard or refuse to hand over their phones when the law permits such a search, Gopi said.
“Who are you? Now, puffing out my chest, I ask: who on earth are you all? You too are citizens. That’s all,” Gopi said defending the police action.
Gopi said there were photographs of Union Home Minister Amit Shah being arrested and taken out of a house.
“Have you seen such photos? Or should I show them to you now?” he asked.
He said law enforcement agencies conduct searches extensively when they enter the premises of prominent businessmen.
“When law enforcement agencies enter the house of the biggest tycoon here, the first thing they do is seize the phones. They will go right up to their kitchen and their bedrooms,” he said.
“If there is a false ceiling, they will smash it open to check if anything is hidden inside,” he said.
He said such a pattern of search operations didn’t start during Sonia Gandhi’s time, nor during Indira Gandhi’s.
“It has been this way ever since this system came into existence in India. We have seen and heard about this in Income Tax raids since our early childhood,” he said.
Gopi said there had been no change in the way such searches were conducted.
“Nothing has changed in that regard. It will only continue like this. Nobody is going to stop it. So why should leniency that isn’t extended to that taxpayer be given elsewhere.” he asked. PTI TBA TBA SA
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