Regardless of Chief Minister M.Ok. Stalin transferring the involved officer, questions linger about police inaction and press freedom.
In an incident with few parallels in Tamil Nadu not too long ago, a journalist was chased down a street within the State’s western district of Tiruppur and hacked with swords and knives on January 24, even because the journalist was on his cell phone pleading with the native police for defense. The incident occurred in Palladam city barely a kilometre from a neighborhood police station even after the journalist, Nesa Prabhu, had first alerted the police 4 hours earlier than. He’s presently being handled at a personal hospital in Coimbatore.
In a brief audio be aware accessed by a number of journalists after the incident, Nesa Prabhu—who’s a broadcast journalist—is heard repeatedly calling up the police helpline and requesting assist, between 5 pm and 9 pm. The journalist sounded terrified, however the police refused to do something. At one level, a policeman is heard telling the journalist that he would inform the Inspector in command of the police station. Nesa Prabhu’s final phrases earlier than the assault had been: “They’ve come sir, my life is over.”
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One native journalist claimed that when Nesa Prabhu referred to as the police round 5 pm, they requested him to go to the police station and proffer a grievance. In a later dialog, additionally recorded on Nesa Prabhu’s telephone, he tells the police that the assailants had been on two autos—one two-wheeler and one other four-wheeler—-and that. In a single dialog, Nesa Prabhu says there have been 4 individuals within the two autos however a while later in one other dialog, he says that six individuals had been chasing him, all younger. Each autos didn’t have quantity plates.
No progress thus far
The Tamil Nadu police are normally alert once they discover a automobile and not using a quantity plate. In keeping with a former police officer who had served in Tamil Nadu’s western districts, cops had been instructed to cease unregistered autos and make a report of those instantly, which they adopted. Consequently, a automobile couldn’t cross cities or a big stretch of a freeway with out having a transparent quantity plate.
Although the primary thoroughfares throughout most cities in Tamil Nadu are fitted with CCTV and regardless of the police asking residents to affix CCTVs dealing with the street of their homes and flats, there was no progress within the case almost 24 hours after the incident. CCTV footage from a neighborhood petrol filling station has been handed over to the police too.
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One journalist stated that one story by Nesa Prabhu that would have agitated some native politicians was associated to a neighborhood bar working far past the required hours. Although this isn’t unusual in bars throughout the State, it’s hardly ever reported on due to the highly effective cartel of bar house owners and native politicians. Tamil Nadu’s liquor commerce—wholesale and retail—is managed by the State-run entity, TASMAC, however the bars are run by highly effective lobbies.
Journalists protested in opposition to the assault and held demonstrations. They demanded the arrest of these accountable and motion in opposition to police personnel who handled all the episode as a joke. In an try and assuage them, the police claimed that 4 particular groups have been fashioned to nab the assailants.
Political reactions
Leaders of most political events expressed shock over the assault and pilloried the federal government’s dealing with of the regulation and order within the State. Edappadi Ok. Palaniswami, former Chief Minister and the Chief of the Opposition within the Legislative Meeting, condemned the inaction of the police though the reporter had referred to as them up and warned them. “Despite the fact that I’ve been stating that the individuals had been residing in concern as a result of poor regulation and order scenario in Tamil Nadu, no motion has been taken to shore it up. That is the results of that neglect,” he stated. He demanded that the federal government create a conducive atmosphere for journalists to work with out concern.
Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, who was beforehand the BJP’s Tamil Nadu State unit president, posted on X that she “strongly condemned the assault”. Referring to the incident, she stated: “Freedom of press and clear impartial media are beneath risk. Failure to guard the media particular person is regrettable. Journalists are pillars of democracy and their life should be safeguarded. Hoping for a swift investigation and justice.” Union Minister L. Murugan visited the journalist on the hospital.
Following the outrage, Chief Minister M.Ok. Stalin, who can also be in command of the Residence division, condemned the assault and ordered the switch of the erring Inspector of Police to the emptiness reserve record. He additionally sanctioned Rs.3 lakh in direction of the remedy of the journalist.
However considerations stay over the Tamil Nadu Police, the place it has been noticed that as a substitute of suspending these accountable for the gross dereliction of responsibility, the federal government equipment has merely moved one Inspector in command of the police station to the emptiness reserve. Within the current previous, the division had shockingly revoked the suspension of an IPS officer who illegally and sadistically tortured locals in a police station in Ambasamudram in southern Tamil Nadu.
