Parties, Press Club seek withdrawal of cases against 2 journos

The journalists from a Tamil biweekly magazine were at the camp set up in the coastal district to interview Lankan Tamil refugees. Two identical FIRs have been filed by the Village Administrative Officers alleging that the journalists— a reporter and photographer— entered the ‘high security’ refugee camp without permission of the taluk officer.

Slamming Edappadi K Palaniswami’s government for slapping non-bailable sections on journalists, DMK president MK Stalin said the ruling BJP at the Centre and its ally AIADMK were keeping people in the grip of fear and they would soon be alienated from the people. Stalin said the cases slapped on two journalists was a sign of attempting to run a fascist style of government.

His party MP Kanimozhi tweeted, “In a democratic country, such attacks on the media must be strongly condemned. I urge the withdrawal of these cases, which have already been filed against the media.”

Makkal Needhi Maiam said that the case filed against the Tamil magazine journalists would only push the new organisations to protest together. “The filing of the case will not stifle the voices of journalists,” MNM vice president R Mahendran said.

On Monday, representatives of the Chennai Press Club met Director General of Police JK Tripathy and requested the police to withdraw the case against the journalists.