Kerala High Court quashes POCSO, forgery case against news channel

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala High court on Friday quashed a case against a television channel on charges of allegedly using a forged video for a programme on drug abuse among children.

The decision could be an embarrassment to the Left front government as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and many ministers openly accused the channel, despite opposition Congress' allegations that the case was politically motivated.

A bench of justice A Badharudeen quashed the case against journalists of Asianet News channel. Various section of Protection of Children from Sexual Assault (POCSO) and Juvenile Justice Act were invoked in the case.

The issue pertained to a report telecasted in November 2022 in which the audio of a POCSO case victim was allegedly used with the video of a channel employee's daughter without showing her face. The programme was about the instances of school girls being trapped by drug rackets and sexually abused.

The police registered a case against the channel in 2023 alleging that a fake news was aired using forged video to defame the government. Then Left-front MLA P V Anvar, who is now a TMC leader, had initially raised the allegation against the channel.

The high court maintained that the channel's intention was to alert the public regarding the increasing drug use among youngsters and rejected charges of forgery.

The opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front had even taken up the matter in the Assembly in 2023 alleging that the case was a vindictive move of the government for telecasting news against the interests of the government.

However, the chief minister said in the Assembly that the channel had faked videos and hence did not deserve any protection.

Activists of CPI(M)'s students' outfit SFI had also staged a violent protest to the channel's office earlier.