<p>The Kollam City Police registered a case against a television anchor for promoting communal enmity during a news debate anchored by him.</p>.<p>Venu Balakrishnan, a senior anchor at Mathrubhumi News, is facing a case under Section 153 A of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) in connection with a June 7 television debate over an alleged case of police atrocity.</p>.<p>The anchor mentioned that the victim in the case – Usman (38) from Aluva– was observing the Ramzan fast on the day he was assaulted by policemen and later locked up.</p>.<p>The debate anchored by Venu also referred to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s remarks regarding the incident.</p>.<p>Vijayan, responding to the Opposition's charges in the Legislative Assembly, had stated that people involved in the burning of a bus in 2005 were among those who protested the police action in Aluva.</p>.<p>A Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus was set ablaze in Kalamassery in Kochi in protest against the detention of Peoples Democratic Party leader Abdul Nasser Madani, then accused in the Coimbatore blasts case.</p>.<p>The Kollam Police registered the case based on two separate petitions, one by a district functionary of the CPM-affiliated Democratic Youth Federation of India and the other by a person who contended that the anchor projected the chief minister as “anti-Muslim”.</p>.<p>Kollam Police Commissioner Arul R B Krishna said the case was registered after detailed scrutiny since it pertained to freedom of the press.</p>.<p>“A senior police officer conducted a preliminary inquiry on the first petition and reported that a case could be registered. Later, we consulted the director general of prosecution and were told that the case was fit to invoke 153 A,” the commissioner told DH.</p>.<p>The Opposition Congress termed the police move an assault on freedom of the press.</p>.<p>“The Pinarayi Vijayan government is endorsing the Narendra Modi line of threatening media into silence,” Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said.</p>
<p>The Kollam City Police registered a case against a television anchor for promoting communal enmity during a news debate anchored by him.</p>.<p>Venu Balakrishnan, a senior anchor at Mathrubhumi News, is facing a case under Section 153 A of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) in connection with a June 7 television debate over an alleged case of police atrocity.</p>.<p>The anchor mentioned that the victim in the case – Usman (38) from Aluva– was observing the Ramzan fast on the day he was assaulted by policemen and later locked up.</p>.<p>The debate anchored by Venu also referred to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s remarks regarding the incident.</p>.<p>Vijayan, responding to the Opposition's charges in the Legislative Assembly, had stated that people involved in the burning of a bus in 2005 were among those who protested the police action in Aluva.</p>.<p>A Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus was set ablaze in Kalamassery in Kochi in protest against the detention of Peoples Democratic Party leader Abdul Nasser Madani, then accused in the Coimbatore blasts case.</p>.<p>The Kollam Police registered the case based on two separate petitions, one by a district functionary of the CPM-affiliated Democratic Youth Federation of India and the other by a person who contended that the anchor projected the chief minister as “anti-Muslim”.</p>.<p>Kollam Police Commissioner Arul R B Krishna said the case was registered after detailed scrutiny since it pertained to freedom of the press.</p>.<p>“A senior police officer conducted a preliminary inquiry on the first petition and reported that a case could be registered. Later, we consulted the director general of prosecution and were told that the case was fit to invoke 153 A,” the commissioner told DH.</p>.<p>The Opposition Congress termed the police move an assault on freedom of the press.</p>.<p>“The Pinarayi Vijayan government is endorsing the Narendra Modi line of threatening media into silence,” Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said.</p>
