"Kerala's Gundaraj Ruling The State": Minister Targets Pinarayi Vijayan

Attacking Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government over the action against a journalist in connection with the mark list controversy, Union Minister V Muraleedharan on Sunday said there is "Gundaraj" in the State.

"Absurd and pathetic strongly condemn the Pinarayi Vijayan Government's high handedness on Media for reporting a story on the Marks sheet fraud. It is undemocratic and clear encroachment on Press Freedom. Shame that self-proclaimed flag bearers of media did this," tweeted Mr Muraleedharan.

He further said, "It is CM Pinarayi Vijayan and CPIM, Kerala's Gundaraj ruling the State. SFI goons can attack teachers, forge certificates.... do anything and go scott-free. Shame!"

Kerala Police registered a case against five persons including an Asianet News journalist and principal of the government-run Maharaja's College in Ernakulam based on a complaint by student union leader PM Arsho in connection with the mark list controversy.

Kerala Police named Maharajas College, Ernakulam former coordinator Vinod Kumar, college principal VS Joy, KSU state president Alotious Xavier, Fazil C A and Asianet News reporter Akhila Nandakumar accused in the complaint filed by Students' Federation of India (SFI) state secretary and student of Maharajas College student PM Arsho alleging conspiracy.

The case has been registered under sections 120-B, 465, 469, and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 120(o) of the Kerala Police (KP) Act 2011 including criminal conspiracy, forgery and defamation.

The controversy erupted after the website of the college showed the results where PM Arsho was marked pass but the marks appeared to be zero. While Arsho claimed that he did not even register for this exam so he did not write the exam.

Initially, the principal stated that Arsho had registered for the exam but later said it was a technical error on the NIC part and many other students had such an issue. And added that Arsho's claims were right and that he did not register for the exam.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Union of Working Journalists has opposed the case filed against the reporter in the issue and said the action against the reporter is undemocratic and encroachment towards press freedom.

Asianet News Network managing editor Manoj K Das said that the case against the reporter is a brazen violation of freedom of the press and added that they will fight this and continue practising their brand of journalism.

"Case against Akhila is a brazen violation of freedom of the press. It reveals a pattern to silence free media. Asianet News network has been under attack from government agencies for a long time. We will not sit quietly. We will fight this also and continue practising our brand of journalism straight, bold and relentless", Manoj K Das said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)