Kerala: New portal face police motion for a report, workplaces and homes of employees raided

Thiruvananthapuram-based on-line Malayalam information portal “Marunadan Malayalee” has change into the brand new goal for the Left authorities in Kerala. CM Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala authorities’s crackdown on the media has prompted sharp criticism proper from native media our bodies to politicians.

Hitting out on the Kerala govt, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar mentioned, “As much as we have been criticising Congress & various State Governments of using the law to silence media, I think it is important for the people of the country to look at what Pinarayi Vijayan is doing in Kerala…His CPM Govt has been beset with scam after scam ranging from gold smuggling to camera purchases for traffic. And having his own office and his own staff and family involved, it has been cracking down on media repeatedly and has been using threats of intimidation to silence media.”

What is the case?

Online information portal Marunadan Malayalee, which additionally has a YouTube channel by the identical title, is owned and operated by Shajan Skariah since 2008. On 24 May 2023, Skariah printed a information report on YouTube alleging mismanagement of the Sports Hostel below CPI(M) MLA PV Sreenijin.

Following this, a defamation case was filed by the MLA towards Skariah together with a further case below ST/SC Act which led to a widespread crackdown on the information portal and its staff together with Shajan Skariah. The case was registered below sections 3(1)(r) and three(1)(u) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and part 120 of the Kerala Police Act.

Sreenijin alleged that Skaria deliberately humiliated him by making “false allegations and accusations through a video uploaded in Marunadan Malayali.” 

Skariah is understood for his open criticism of the CPI(M) regime. A spate of focused assaults has since been made on Marunadan Malayalee and its staff over the previous month.

The Kerala police have raided the workplaces of Marunadan Malayalee and even searched the residences of its staff and companions. Several devices together with laptops, cameras, reminiscence playing cards, and even private cell phones of the employees have been seized in raids throughout varied places together with within the capital metropolis Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.

Several devices have been seized by the Kerala police in raids at Marunadan Malayalee workplaces throughout Kerala (Source: Republic Media Network)

This comes after the Kerala High Court struck down Shajan Skariah’s attraction towards the rejection of anticipatory bail by a Special Court below the case filed by Kunnathunad MLA Sreenijin with the Elamakkara police. Despite the submission by Skariah that there was no point out of Sreenijin’s caste within the information report, the Court in reference to Section 3(1)(r) of the SC/ST Act noticed that “referring to the caste name of the victim is not necessary to attract the offence.”

With no respite from each the Special Court in addition to the Kerala HC, Skariah moved Supreme Court on thirtieth June.

In a video posted on the YouTube channel, Skaria mentioned the police motion confirmed that politicians and criminals had ganged up towards the portal and wished to close it down. “Police have raided offices across the state as if they were looking for a terrorist,” he mentioned. He added that “raids were held not only at the houses of journalists, but even at the premises of their relatives and friends”. Skaria mentioned 22 computer systems, 4 laptops and 4 cameras had been seized by the police.

The Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) has hit out on the Left govt. KUWJ President MV Vineetha mentioned that it’s utterly exceptional to research staff when the case is towards the proprietor.

R Kiran Babu, basic secretary of KUWJ, mentioned, “The Union’s position is that if there is a case against Marunadan Malayalee and its owner Shajan Skariah, it should be investigated and if he is guilty, he should be punished but implicating workers of the organization is deplorable and undermines the dignity of Kerala Police.”

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar identified the “hypocrisy” of the non-NDA political events together with the ruling Left govt in Kerala. “I think YouTube channels in this age of technology, in this age of digital…to try and silence a YouTube channel because the channel is asking some uncomfortable questions about the (Kerala) govt’s conduct, is raising a mirror to the govt about its own conduct vis a vis gold smuggling and other very questionable scams. And being intolerant of that kind of journalism and using the police to silence journalists and the platform in my opinion is what the Left is now leading the Opposition parties in.”

Furthermore, CPI(M) MLA PV Anwar reportedly threatened a senior reporter of Marunadan Malayalee on Facebook. His Facebook account is stuffed with bullish posts towards the channel and its staff. The MLA in his latest posts has been issuing open threats and abuses to the media.

MLA from Nilambur LA constituency, PV Anwar celebrated on social media the report of an assault on Shajan Skariah on the Gatwick airport in London final month.

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar mentioned makes an attempt to silence the media that criticises the Left is the explanation the latter has misplaced floor within the nation. “It is one of the reasons why all Marxist and left govts have been dispatched from all over the country… Tripura, Bengal everywhere they have been dispatched. But in Kerala, they continue to practice this politics of intolerance, politics of intimidation and threat against our media and our journalistic community. And it is absolutely unconscionable, it is absolutely unacceptable in a democracy like ours,” he mentioned.

#WATCH | Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar says, “As a lot as we now have been criticising Congress & varied State Governments of utilizing the legislation to silence media, I believe it’s important for the individuals of the nation to have a look at what Pinarayi Vijayan is doing in Kerala…His CPM Govt… pic.twitter.com/ytHmIIZNwz

— ANI (@ANI) July 5, 2023

Talking in regards to the raids on Marunadan Malayalee, he mentioned, “this recent example of using the Police to raid the offices & homes of a journalist to silence a YouTube channel when the matter is in Court and when the person has appealed to the Court, to use this type of blatant intimidation by a CM who criticises our Govt for banning BBC’s documentaries and talks about free speech – in our country if there is hypocrisy and double standards about freedom of speech & there is continuing politics of threat & intimidation, it is represented by the Left and Marxist Govt in Kerala.”

He recalled how the Opposition made a hue and cry after the ban on the BBC’s propaganda documentary on PM Modi. “To use this type of blatant intimidation by a CM who criticises our Govt for banning BBC’s documentaries and talks about free speech. In our country if there is hypocrisy and double standards about freedom of speech & if there is continuing politics of threat & intimidation, it is represented by the Left and Marxist Govt in Kerala.”

Former Union Minister Prakash Javadekar additionally spoke out in help of the media saying freedom of the press is below assault in Kerala.

Left’s intolerance in direction of freedom of the press

In November 2022, the Marxist govt was reportedly mulling amendments to sure Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to extend State management over the media. The legislation division of Kerala ha ready a Bill to this impact. Mathrubhumi had reported that the federal government plans to amend Section 292 of the IPC and introduce a brand new sub-section 292A to penalise the publishing of content material ‘intended to defame someone.’

In 2016, merely months after coming to energy, the media had been blocked from coming into the courts in Kerala for practically 2 weeks. More than 100 legal professionals had reportedly moved the courtroom on behalf of a cop who was suspended for stopping mediapersons from coming into a Kozhikode courtroom premises.

In June this yr, a journalist was booked on a criticism filed by the SFI over a “forged result released by the government-run Maharaja’s College in Ernakulam”. The CPI(M) had overtly backed the motion towards the girl scribe. CPI(M) State secretary MV Govindan blatantly issued threats saying, “If they continue to engage in an anti-government, anti-SFI campaign claiming to be media, they will continue to face cases.”

Two days after Akhila Nandakumar was booked, a information anchor reportedly acquired a name from the police asking him to look and make a press release towards information he reported about three years in the past.

The Left in Kerala has come below hearth extra so in latest days for its dictatorial aggression towards the media. From senior editors to staff, the Vijayan authorities, which provides sermons to the BJP on press freedom, has curbed the identical in its personal state for the longest time.

“These are the same people who talk about freedom of speech, who don’t hesitate to support misinformation and lies against our Prime Minister and our government in the name of free speech. But when it comes to scrutiny of their govt, scams being raised and questions being raised about their govt and their governance, they have suddenly become intolerant and suddenly they become freedom of speech opponents. So this double standard, this hypocrisy must be visible, must be known to the people of India. And this type of intolerance should never be accepted and tolerated not by the people of Kerala, not by the people of India,” Chandrasekhar mentioned.