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A case has been registered against a Malayalam TV news channel and its staff journalist for promoting enmity between different religious groups through its coverage of the October 29 blasts at a gathering of the Christian sect Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kochi, police officers familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
According to the police, the FIR was filed on October 31 against Reporter TV and its coordinating editor Sujaya Parvathy on the basis of a complaint filed by Yasin Arafath, a resident of Kalamassery in Kochi.
The complainant alleged that the journalist and the TV channel attempted to link the IED blasts with the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict and thus tried to defame the Muslim community in the state, they said.
“The FIR has been filed under sections 153, 153 (A) of the Indian Penal Code and section 120 (o) of the Kerala Police Act. We are investigating the matter,” an officer at the Thrikkakara police station in Kochi said.
At the same time, Parvathy, in a broadcast on the TV channel, said that the network will fight the case legally.
“There are narrow interests behind this case. Reporter TV will take on all attempts to disrupt media freedom,” she said, while reacting to the case registered.
The Reporter TV news channel was launched in 2011 under MV Nikesh Kumar as editor-in-chief and underwent a brand revamp in July this year, under a new management.
Vishnu Varma is Assistant Editor and reports from Kerala for the Hindustan Times. He has 10 years of experience writing for print and digital platforms and has worked at The New York Times, NDTV and The Indian Express in the past. He specialises in longform reportage at the intersections of politics, crime, social commentary and environment.