Pics: Brijesh Garodi
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (PS)

Mangalore, Nov 9: Former union minister and veteran congress leader B Janardhan Poojary has needled the BJP led state government stating that the arrest of journalist Naveen Soorinje in relation to the recent home stay incident is an attack on the freedom of press. He added that if the attack was not videographed, the BJP in the state would have made all attempts to let the incident go unnoticed from the public eyes.

Addressing a press conference held at the press club here on Thursday November 8, he said that the arrested reporter was an eyewitness ot the incident and he was helpful in bringing the incident to the notice of the public. The state government nullifying its onus of supporting the reporter is now assaulting him, he said. The people in the state will give an answer in the coming assembly election, he said.

"Reporter Naveen Soorinje had made every effort to inform the Kankanady police about the incident on the day; however, failure on part of the police who did not receive his call is noteworthy in this case. Police have acted as an agent of the government", he rued during the press conference.

He also added that as per the constitution, there is no such rule that states that a reporter should inform the police of the incident which he is about to cover. "Police cannot be dictators", he argued.

He called upon all pradesh congress committees to make their stand clear on this issue and urged the congress workers to raise their voice against the arrest of Naveen Soorinje.

Asked about the statement of ADGP Bipin Gopalkrishna who had said that cases were booked on rightwing group including two TV journalists, Poojari said that the former had come here (from Bangalore) with definite intentions and he also suppressed the facts.

Congress leaders Vijay Kumar Shetty, Kallige Tharanath Shetty and Arun Coelho were present at the press conference.