'TN police guilty'

By J. Venkatesan (The Hindu)


NEW DELHI, DEC. 3. The Press Council of India has strongly indicted the Tamil Nadu Government for a series of attacks on journalists and concluded that ``there was a calculated attempt by the police to prevent reporting of the incidents which might be inconvenient to it or to the powers that be.''

The full Council, at its meeting held here today under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice Jayachandra Reddy, adopted the report of the five-member committee, headed by Mr. Hari Jaisingh, Editor, The Tribune sent to Tamil Nadu by the Council to probe the incidents of attacks on journalists by the police before and after the arrest of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(DMK) president, Mr. M. Karunanidhi.

The other members of the committee are: Mr. R. Venkataraman of Telegraph, Mr. Vijay Darda, Member of Parliament, Mr. Pratap T. Shah and Mr. Indrajit Mohanty, representing the Bar Council of India. According to Mr. Venkataraman, the report, approved by the Council, would be sent to the Tamil Nadu Government for necessary action on the lines recommended by the committee.

The gist of the report available with The Hindu said the intention of the police ``appears to have been that no photo/video evidence should be allowed, so that the police resorting to a severe lathicharge and other methods could not be telecast/broadcast.''

The Council recommended to the State Government to pay adequate compensation to all journalists who sustained injuries, lost equipment, cameras, both still and video, mobile phones and other equipment used for news coverage.

It asked the Government to withdraw all charges against Mr. Suresh of Sun TV and other journalists and all criminal offences and other liabilities be made ab initio null and void and deemed not to have been effected at all. It asked the Government to do away with selective arrests, preventive detentions and foisting of cases against journalists.

The report noted that the ``intention (to attack journalists) appears to stem from the fact that during the arrest of Mr. Karunanidhi, TV channels could videograph the event and repeatedly telecast the arrest episode which had attracted wide attention showing the powers that be in a bad light.''

The report said ``the regime under Ms. Jayalalithaa (former Chief Minister) seemed to believe that she had been getting a ``bad press'' ever since her arrival on the political scene. This was evident during her conversation with the team. The `psychological factor' that she gets a ``bad press'' plays a major role with the overzealous police, the State machinery and others handling the press/media on behalf of the Government.''

On the other hand, the report said ``the DMK chief, Mr. Karunanidhi astutely plays his role so that a chunk of the local press/media is `sympathetic' to his cause and becomes vulnerable. He sought to play the `sympathy' card with repeated visuals depicting `inhuman treatment' to him during the arrest.''

On the lathicharge on journalists covering the procession on the Marina, the report said: ``It is the duty of the police to protect the life and property of every citizen and this distinguishes the force from the Army, for the police is for law and order. In the name of maintenance of law and order, it cannot take the law in its own hands and resort to brutality.''

The report noted ``that the press/media appears to be sharply divided on party lines in Tamil Nadu and of course, there are `neutral journalists'. However, when a sizeable section of the local media is divided, in an atmosphere of animosity, a fallout on the `neutral persons' is natural.''