Between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday evening the city police arrested six television journalists on various charges and released them on bail in connection with the March 2 violence at the City Civil Court complex.
The arrests came ahead of the hearing in the case that is scheduled to come up on Thursday before a Division Bench of the High Court headed by Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen.
During the last hearing the court sought to know why no action had been taken against television channels for broadcasting unconfirmed and false news that allegedly helped fuel the violence.
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Television journalists Lakshman Hoogar of TV 9 and Kiran of Udaya TV were arrested on the charge of assault by the Vijaynagar police on Tuesday and released on bail the same day.
They were arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by a lawyer. Janasri TV journalist Madhu Naik was arrested by the Ulsoor Gate police on Tuesday on the charge of obscene behaviour and released on bail the same evening.
On Wednesday, the Ulsoor Gate police arrested Samaya TV's Special Correspondent K.M. Manjunath, Suvarna TV's Input Chief M.C. Chintan and Input Chief of TV 9 M.S. Nagesh Gowda. They have been charged with “wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause a riot”.
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The arrests came in for strong criticism from journalists.
“By arresting the journalists and projecting them as criminals, the police, with the backing of a section of lawyers, are entering into dangerous waters. Already lawyers have refused to represent the media in court. It is now up to the government to intervene decisively and protect media freedom,” said the Chief of Bureau of a leading national daily, who preferred anonymity.
A senior television journalist said, “The entire legal fraternity is ganging up against the media. The State government and the police have been thoroughly exposed as weak and incapable of upholding the rule of law. This is a dangerous precedent and will seriously damage the credentials of all four pillars of democracy.”
None of the city's senior police officials were willing to comment.
A ‘formality'
However, some officials said that they were “under pressure” to carry out the arrests ahead of the court hearing even as another senior police official termed the arrests a “formality”.