Chennai: After Chennai-based journalists D Anandhakumar and M Sriram were detained by Kanyakumari police a few days ago, Alliance for Media Freedom has requested Tamilnadu Director General of Police T K Rajendran to order a probe into their illegal detention and take action against those responsible for the illegalities.
The alliance, in a release, demanded that Kanyakumari police stop spreading false stories about the incident and it should act without prejudice and as per law in the case.
Anandhakumar and Sriram had visited Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts along with two accredited French investigative journalists. They provided professional facilitation and assistance to the French journalists in enquiring about illegal beach sand mining in the State and the consequent threats to the safety of journalists investigating and reporting on this.
| Report critically: Ram |
| N Ram, chairman of THG Publishing Pvt Ltd, speaking on behalf of the Alliance at the Press Club Monday, cautioned the media about swallowing this kind of propaganda. “Of course, we will be reporting it. But, we have to report it critically and also rebut what is totally false,” he added.
While he said the police have not alleged ‘spying’ in the FIR, they have nevertheless planted stories in the media. “We are not saying journalists are exempt from the law. Journalists are subject to the law as long as law is justly implemented. That is the position of Alliance for Media Freedom.” Condemning Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan that the two French journalists came to Kanyakumari as spies, he said, “I am going to make a request to Prime Minister Modi that he should be promoted to Cabinet status and a fresh ministry of fake news, disinformation and communal propaganda must be created and he must be put in charge. What Pon Radhakrishnan has said is complete fake news, falsehood and communal propaganda,” he added. |
The first information report (FIR) registered by the Kanyakumari police on the basis of a complaint received from Rajesh Raman Nair, chief manager (security) of the Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL) at Manavalakurichy, 26 November, said, “The two French journalists, along with a local parish priest, Father Kildoss, met an official at the IREL.”
The complaint also mentions that the parish priest along with the two foreign nationals were involved in videography in beach mining areas and also had interviewed a few of the fishermen in Chinnavilai which comes under the government. “Property and photography / videography is prohibited.”
The two Indian journalists met the French journalists only around 12.30 pm on the day and elsewhere in Kanyakumari district. It is only after the priest told them that the three of them (the priest and the two French journalists) had entered IREL that the Tamilnadu journalists realised what had happened.
Anand’s explanation is that after a barrage of calls from unknown persons warning that their safety was at risk, they decided it was time to wind up and leave. The French journalists returned to Paris via Thiruvananthapuram and Mumbai. Anand, who accompanied the French journalists in a car, states that he got off en route to the Thiruvananthapuram airport, at the Thiruvananthapuram bus stand, to catch a bus and returned to Chennai in the early hours of 27 November.
According to Anand, through the day (27 November) he and Sriram received calls from the Kanyakumari Deputy Superintendent of Police, Bhaskaran. He asked them to arrive in person 28 November and said they could return to Chennai the same day after giving a statement. They were told that it was only an enquiry. The two Indian journalists departed from Chennai 27 November night and arrived in Kanyakumari the next morning. They met DSP Bhaskaran at his office at 11 am.
An enquiry took place with representatives of the Intelligence Bureau, State Intelligence, Q Branch, CID and other agencies present, and with the DSP as the investigating officer. In the midst of the enquiry, the French journalists made a video call via WhatsApp through Anand’s mobile phone and spoke to the DSP, explaining their credentials as accredited journalists. They also displayed their ID proofs to the police personnel, one of whom recorded the entire conversation on his mobile phone.
Following this, Sriram was allowed to go back to the hotel after some time while Anand continued to be detained illegally at the Kanyakumari police station. He did not have access to his mobile phone. The next day, 29 November, Anand and Sriram were taken again to the DSPs office.
There they were asked to sign summons stating that they would appear before the police for questioning on the same day at 2 pm.
Anand declined to sign the papers until a lawyer had vetted them. Only after D Geetha, advocate, intervened, did the police finally release both journalists, with DSP Bhaskaran claiming that they were not in police custody. Anand and Sriram returned to Chennai around 10 the same night.