A notice from A.P. police to Telugu TV news channel ‘T News’ for airing an audio tape that dragged the name of A.P. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu into the sensational cash-for-vote case triggered widespread protest in Telangana on Saturday.
While the T channel management vowed to fight back, the notice brought together journalists condemning the AP police and describing it as ‘attack on the freedom of press’.
The notice, served on Friday midnight on the channel located in Telangana Bhavan, headquarters of the ruling TRS party, by Visakhapatnam ACP Ramana Kumar, said airing of the audio tape ‘disturbed public tranquillity and developed feelings of enmity in different political groups and Telugu-speaking people’ of AP and Telangana.
The notice issued under provisions of Cable TV Network (Regulation) Act to the Chief Executive Officer of the channel, M. Narayan Reddy, sought to know why action should not be taken against the channel.
The T-News Director Gandra Mohan Rao said the channel would send its reply to the notice by post stating that the Act was not applicable to channels but only to cable operators. He also said that the channel would, in turn, issue notices to the Assistant Commissioner of Police to explain execution of an authority which is not vested in him. “We will also claim damages from the ACP for serving the notice without jurisdiction” he told The Hindu.
Advocates taking up the cause of the channel filed complaints in the local Banjara Hills and Saroornagar police stations against Mr. Naidu, Director General of Police of AP J.V. Ramudu and other officials of the State.
The DGP of Telangana Anurag Sharma met Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao to discuss the consequences while Mr. Ramudu rushed to Visakhapatnam to chalk out future course of action.
Meanwhile, the manner in which the notice was served at midnight without information to the local police raked up a debate. The former Additional Advocate General D. Prakash Reddy said there were established conventions for police of other States to act in similar situations by talking to their local counterparts. “Imagine a situation where police from Tamil Nadu or Karnataka landed in hordes and did the same”, he added.
Mr. Reddy also said the police of AP had no jurisdiction over Hyderabad which was a common capital for the functioning of the two governments.
“It is media’s duty to expose corruption and we just did it,” said M. Narayan Reddy.
Reacting to the notice, the CEO said the veracity of the audio tape and not how it reached T channel was important. He felt the A.P. police should have waited till the forensic experts, to whom the ACB special court had forwarded the tapes to confirm authenticity, presented their report.
“We’re ready to face defamation or anything if the tape was proved fake,” he said speaking to The Hindu over phone. Mr. Reddy said the T channel would lodge complaint with the President of India, Governor, Press Council of India and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry over misuse of the law by A.P. Government.
It was strange that the A.P. Government, which was raking up the issue of law and order citing section 8 of A.P. Reorganisation Act, didn’t bother to consult the local police before serving notice, Mr Reddy added.
