Poojary condemns arrest of Journalists, Naveen Soorinje and Sharan

Poojary condemns arrest of Journalists, Naveen Soorinje and Sharan

Mangalore Today News/ ITV

Mangalore, Nov 8, 2012: B. Janardhan Poojary, former union minister and Congress leader, said that the district unit of the Congress condemns the arrest of Naveen Soorinje, reporter for Kasturi TV channel in connection with the attack on young people celebrating a birthday at Morning Mist Homestay in Padil this July.

Addressing the press today, Poojary said that Naveen and the other reporters and cameramen, who were present at the home stay when the young people were being attacked, are witnesses and the government wants to suppress the witnesses, owing to which it is playing a new arrest game.

If reporters were not present on the scene, the public would never have come to know about it, he said, adding that such incidents have not taken place in any other state in India.

Although the Constitution gives freedom of speech and expression, the police department and the government are trying to take away that freedom from the press, he declared.

Mr. Soorinje had stated that he had informed the police well in advance, adding that it is up to the police to act quickly and that reporters are not police informers.

Stating that Naveen and the other reporters had done a great job, Mr. Poojary said that the Congress had planned to honor them during the Dasara festival, but Naveen had requested that the reward money should be spent on the Kudubi families displaced by MSEZ projects.

He said that, although Home Minister R. Ashok had stated that action must be taken against the accused and the charges against reporters must be dropped, nothing has been done about it so far.

Congress leaders Vijaykumar Shetty, Kallige Tharanath Shetty, Arun Coelho, and others were also present at the press meet.