Rajeev Chandrasekhar accuses Kerala Government of muzzling media

New Delhi [India], July 5 : Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Wednsday accused the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government for allegedly using law enforcement agencies to muzzle media and accused it of hypocrisy and double standards on freedom of speech.

"As much as we have been criticising Congress and various State Governments for 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," Rajeev Chandrasekhar said while talking to ANI.

"His (Pinarayi Vijayan) CPM Government has been beset with scam after scam. It has been cracking down on media repeatedly and has been using threats of intimidation to silence media," the Union Minister said.

Pointing out the cases that Kerala Police have filed against some TV channels and journalists in Kerala, Chandrasekhar alleged that if there is hypocrisy in preaching freedom of speech it is the Left government in Kerala.

"It (Kerala Government) recently filed cases against some TV channels and journalists in TV channels. Recent example of using the Police to raid the offices and 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 Chief Minister who criticises our Government for banning BBC's documentaries and talks about free speech. In our country, if there is hypocrisy and double standards about freedom of speech and there is continuing politics of threat and intimidation, it is represented by the Left and Marxist Goverment in Kerala," Chandrasekhar alleged.

In June this year Kerala Police registered a case against five persons including an Asianet News journalist and principal of the government-run Maharaja's College in Ernakulam based on a complaint by student union leader PM Arsho in connection with the mark list controversy.

Kerala Police named Maharajas College, Ernakulam former coordinator Vinod Kumar, college principal VS Joy, KSU state president Alotious Xavier, Fazil C A and Asianet News reporter Akhila Nandakumar accused in the complaint filed by Students' Federation of India (SFI) state secretary and student of Maharajas College student PM Arsho alleging conspiracy.

The case has been registered under sections 120-B, 465, 469, and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 120(o) of the Kerala Police (KP) Act 2011 including criminal conspiracy, forgery and defamation.

The controversy erupted after the website of the college showed the results where PM Arsho was marked pass but the marks appeared to be zero. While Arsho has claimed that he did not even register for this exam so he did not write the exam.

Initially, the principal stated that Arsho had registered for the exam but later said it was a technical error on the NIC part and many other students had such an issue. And added that Arsho's claims were right and that he did not register for the exam.