The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) and Kerala Journalists Union (KJU) have condemned the statement of the Kerala Government Chief Whip, P.C. George, that the journalist of ‘Reporter TV,' Pradeep C. Neduman should be arrested for “exposing the illegal activities” of the imprisoned former minister, Balakrishna Pillai.
In a statement here on Thursday, IJU president S.N. Sinha, secretary general D. Amar and president KJU, V.B. Rajan, said the outburst was a direct attack on the freedom of the media and negation of fundamental rights of the citizens to know. What Mr. Pradeep did was a legitimate journalistic duty to expose the illegal activities of persons in high positions. They urged Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to intervene and rein in his colleagues from threatening media persons. They demanded adequate security for Mr. Pradeep. The statement said there were uproarious scenes in the Kerala Assembly for the last few days over mobile conversations of Mr. Pillai with several powerful people in the State, including personal staff of the Chief Minister and another Cabinet Minister, who happened to be the son of Mr. Pillai.
Mr. Pradeep conducted a sting operation by calling the jailed former minister and aired the conversation on ‘Reporter TV.'
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