A complaint has been filed against Malayalam News channels namely, Manorama News, MediaOne and Reporter TV for “exhorting and glorifying violence including acts of extremist organisations in which they made attempts to destabilize and overthrow the democratically elected Central Government”, reports Organiser.
Legal Rights Observatory, an activist group which reportedly uses legal measures to take on people and organizations which they believe are indulged in anti-national works, also tweeted informing the same: “#Kerala Complaint u/s 121, 121A, 124A,505,150,153, 153A,153B, 298 IPC filed with @DelhiPolice against Anusha Andrews, Sawad Muhammad of Malayalam @manoramaonline, Reporter-TV, Media One for glorifying violence by extremist groups to overthrow elected Government using terrorism.”
#Kerala Complaint u/s 121, 121A, 124A,505,150,153, 153A,153B, 298 IPC filed with @DelhiPolice against Anusha Andrews, Sawad Muhammad of Malayalam @manoramaonline, Reporter News, Media One for glorifying violence by extremist groups to overthrow elected Government using terrorism pic.twitter.com/1HT7rKR0Y2
— Legal Rights Observatory- LRO (@LegalLro) February 18, 2021
The complaint which has been lodged with the DGP of Delhi Police accused the news channels of giving factually false news to glorify the Republic Day mayhem, where rioters disguised as farmers unleashed violence on the streets of the national capital and carried out the insurrection against the state by forcing their way into the Red Fort where they unfurled a religious flag and also denigrated the national flag.
The complainant stated that the aforementioned Malayalam News Channels- Manorama News, MediaOne and Reporter TV had actively facilitated the actions of sedition and waging war against the Nation by continuously broadcasting false and malicious news on the Republic Day violence. The complainant accused the channels of “exhorting, encouraging and glorifying” the Republic Day mayhem by its false coverage.
The complaint stated that Manorama News had published a report by its Delhi bureau chief Sawad Muhammed, in which the latter had celebrated the unfurling of the Sikh religious flag, as chaos unfolded at Red Fort on Republic Day. He had in his reports referred to it as “capture of Delhi”.
Manorama News accused of glorifying the unfurling of the Sikh religious flag at Red Fort
The reporter had further hailed and glorified the action in his report by referring to it as a “brave and valiant act” and justified it by calling it a “rightful reaction to the atrocities committed against the farmers by the Government”.
The complainant also stated how these channels had tried to fearmonger by running the fake piece of news claiming that a farmer was killed on the day of violence because the police shot him in the head. The complaint stated: “The aforesaid news channels falsely reported that one of the agitators was shot by the police on the head and he expired on the spot while riding the tractor rally during the protest. It is clearly evident that such news (fake news) at that fury moment may fuel riots of large scale as people may believe that the news reported is right”.
Rajdeep Sardesai spreads similar fake news about a ‘farmer’ dying in police firing
Interestingly, this piece of false news was also shared by none other than Rajdeep Sardesai, who is often hailed as the ‘Michelangelo of the Indian Journalism’, for his hypocrisy and penchant to lie. Rajdeep Sardesai, like several left friendly journalists and intellectuals had tried to extricate the Khalsiatani protestors by spreading fake news about a ‘farmer’ dying in police firing.
However, Rajdeep’s own news network had reported that the man died after his tractor had overturned, busting the web of lies, the senior ‘journalist’ had tried to weave to white wash the havoc unleashed on the streets of the National Capital on 71st Republic Day and malign the Delhi police.
