The Revolutionary Youth Front (RYF) has called upon the government to take immediate and effective steps to ensure freedom of press across the State.
In a statement on Thursday, RYF national general secretary Saleem P. Chacko said the State should ensure free and fair functioning of the press in the backdrop of the curbs on reporting from court premises even after the constitution of a permanent committee to sort out the issues between journalists and lawyers.
The High Court had said that the freedom of press would not be curtailed and hence there was no justification in the police blocking journalists on court premises, he said. Free press is the lifeline of a democracy and curbs on its functioning was a shame on a highly literate State like Kerala, he said.
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Mr. Chacko called for an inquiry into the curbs imposed on the press on the court premises. The public wanted to know whether the curbs were imposed on the directive of the government or the court, he said.