New Delhi: The News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA) on Tuesday demanded action against individuals and officials involved in the attack and subsequent search of Asianet office premises in Kerala's Kochi and Kozhikode. In a letter, NBDA president Avinash Pandey said Asianet had brought to its notice the Kochi office attack by SFI activists as well as the subsequent police search in the company's Kozhikode outlet.
"The NBDA maintains that while no individual or institution is above the law, however, it condemns any attempt to muzzle the media and thereby cause any interference with the free functioning of news operations. Such attacks and searches are not only unacceptable, but they also undermine the basic tenets of freedom of speech and expression enshrined in the Constitution of India," Pandey noted.
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"We sincerely urge you and the state administration to take immediate action against the individuals and officials, who attacked and/or searched the office premises of Asianet and ensure that journalists and media persons are allowed to perform their duties in a free and fearless manner," it further said.
The organisation had earlier termed the attack and the search operation as "not only unacceptable but also a direct impingement on the media's freedom of speech and expression", which it said were enshrined under Article 19(1)(A) of the Constitution of India. Further highlighting the action as an "obvious attempt to muzzle the media", it asserted that the media's news of bringing forth news, which is in the public interest, was "indispensable to the functioning of a democracy".
The NBDA urges the Chief Minister of Kerala to take immediate action against the individuals and officials, who attacked and/or searched the broadcaster's office premises, clearly sending a message that no individuals or officials are beyond the purview of the law, it also said in a release. Meanwhile, the police presence during the operation said, back on March 5, that no document had been seized from the office.
The case registered by police against Asianet comes in the backdrop of a complaint lodged by a politician from Kerala, who stated that an interview conducted by the channel, of a girl, who was forced to act as a drug courier in the state, was fake.
