Case Filed Against Tamil News Channel For Attempting ‘To Create Disharmony Between Two Communities’

Tamil Nadu police have filed a case against Puthiya Thalaimurai television channel on charges of “attempting to create disharmony between two communities”. The police also filed a case against a reporter of the channel, Tamil movie director Ameer Sultan and member of the Legislative Assembly U Thaniarasu.

The case was filed after a free-for-all broke out during a round-table discussion organised by the channel in Coimbatore on whether protests in the state were for political reasons or demanding people’s rights.

Times of India reported that police swung into action on a complaint from the owner of premises who alleged that the event was held in an “irresponsible manner”. Fracas broke out when Sultan referred to the murder of Hindu Munnani leader Sasikumar in Coimbatore last year. The reference was reportedly unrelated to the topic, leading to a hue and cry being raised by the gathering.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been blamed for the bedlam that broke out at the venue with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) saying the BJP cadre at the venue failed to relent even after protesting over 45 minutes. Opposition parties led by the Congress have slammed the case against the television channel, saying it was against press freedom.

Puthiya Thalaimurai is among the media houses in Tamil Nadu that has been playing up the controversies over National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for medical colleges, protests to shut Vedanta’s Sterlite copper plant, Neutrino observatory and the methane gas project in the state’s Cauvery delta.

In the last couple of years, television channels have been giving space to people who provoke violence among youth through their vitriolic comments that are most often misleading.