The Hindu : Shock and outrage

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 09, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Shock and outrage

Sir, — The turn of events on Friday evening has been received here with shock and outrage. Never before in the long and illustrious history of our national newspaper has such an outrageous incident happened. Freedom of speech is a basic human right in any democracy. I cannot even begin to imagine what will happen if a State Government here in the U.S. even thought of a similar thing against a member of the Press.

Arvind Ramakrishnan,

New Jersey

* * *

Sir, — At a recent conference in Cuba, Noam Chomsky derided the American occupation of Iraq saying, "You need to have special talent to botch up things so badly". One wonders what such opinions would entail for one who voices them in current day T.N.

Mushtaqh Ali,

Chennai

* * *

Sir, — The incident was reminiscent of the Emergency era.

T.V. Suresh,

Coimbatore, T.N.

* * *

Sir, — The police raids are an act of outrage unleashed by a regime that has arrogated sky-high powers to itself. The act of police officials searching the residence of senior journalists without the necessary papers smacks of high-handedness, and should be condemned by all right thinking citizens.

D. Muralidharan,

Chennai

* * *

Sir, — The arrest warrant is a brutal attack on the voice of the people.

Palaparthi Srinivasa,

Thane, Maharastra

* * *

Sir, — The entry of the police into the office without the required warrants shows the hostility of the State Government to The Hindu. Legislatures have been empowered for their proper and smooth functioning and not to suppress criticism of the Governments.

Ajit Kumar,

Bangalore

* * *

Sir, — We condemn the police raid on The Hindu. The barbarous act of the Tamil Nadu Government in the name of breach of privilege is but a blatant attack on freedom of expression.

S. Malla Reddy & B. Tulasidas,

Hyderabad

* * *

Sir, — I was shocked at the behaviour of the police following the ruling of the Tamil Nadu Assembly against the top brass of The Hindu. It is, without doubt, a black day for the Indian Press.

N. Narayanan,

Danbury, U.S.

* * *

Sir, — I recall the words of Lord Denning "There is one great lesson to be learnt from the 19th century. It is the freedom of the press and in particular its freedom to criticise the government of the day."

V. Sundaram,

Chennai

* * *

Sir, — The police high handedness is extremely condemnable. The Hindu is known for its intrepid reporting and unbiased editorials. People need to come forward to impress upon the Assembly to revoke its decision.

Mahtab Azad,

Aligarh

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