THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Mediapersons in the capital city faced a two-way attack from the henchmen of a self-financing college management and police on Thursday. The attack and the consequent agitation by mediapersons gave way for a nasty ruckus that prevailed all through the day, which partially affected vehicular traffic in the city. The commotion started when the reporting team of Asianet News Channel comprising reporter Sarath Krishnan and cameraman Ayyappan were attacked by the staff of the CSI Bishop House while they were recording a shoot inside the LMS compound near Museum Junction. The news channel on the previous day had aired an exclusive report on the alleged trading of seats in the Karakonam Medical College under the control of the church, which is suspected to be the provocation for the attack. Sarath was attacked from behind and bashed up. Even though cameraman Ayyappan recorded the visuals of the entire attack, the assailants snatched the camera and removed the video tape. The camera was then smashed on the floor to pieces. Later, mediapersons led by the Kerala Union of Working Journalists took out a protest march to the LMS compound where the CSI Bishop House is situated. Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan also arrived on the spot and heard the grievances of journalists. But as soon as he left, the assailants unleashed another attack in which Marshal V Sebastian, the Thiruvananthapuram Bureau Chief of Indiavision Channel suffered a serious head injury. Marshal was beaten up by two policemen while he was trying to save himself from the attack of the goons. He was immediately taken to a city hospital and given medical care. Following the police attack, journalists staged a sit-in behind the main gate of LMS compound demanding the CSI authorities to return the video tape containing the visuals of the attack. However, they suffered a jolt as the church authorities returned the tape several hours later after erasing the evidence recorded in it.Senior police officers, including Thiruvananthapuram Range IG K Padmakumar and City Police Commissioner Manoj Abraham arrived on the spot and held talks with the journalists in a bid to restrict the course of events blow out of proportion. The members of various political parties, including the ruling and Opposition parties, also rushed to LMS and declared solidarity with the media fraternity. MLAs Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, V Sivankutty, P K Sreemathi, E P Jayarajan, V D Satheesan, Hibi Eden, P C Vishnunath and BJP state president V Muraleedharan addressed the agitating journalists.Two policemen, ASI Russel and Civil Police Officer John, who allegedly colluded with the assailants, were suspended from service in connection with the incident. The Museum Police arrested two persons in connection with the incident. Two of the assailants were arrested by the police while the leaders of the attack, including a Block Panchayat member of the Congress, are still at large.
Comments
0 comment