Kerala - Thrissur   

Press Council reprimands Janmabhumi

Staff Reporter

THRISSUR: The Press Council has reprimanded the Malayalam daily Janmabhumi for publishing unsubstantiated defamatory report against the former Thrissur range Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) of Police Y. Anil Kumar.

Mr. Anil Kumar, who is at present DIG (Administration), Thiruvananthapuram, had given a complaint to the Press Council against Janmabhumi saying that the paper had published a baseless report alleging that he had misused the Guruvayur Devaswom Guest House for "immoral activity".

The report published on June 2, 2004, also alleged that a high-level inquiry was going on against the DIG on this allegation. The Press Council's Inquiry Committee which went into the complaint held that the respondent (editor of Janmabhumi) "was unable to establish any basis for the report".

The committee also refused to accept the defence of the respondent that since the news report did not mention the name of the DIG, it cannot be said that it was targeted against Mr. Anil Kumar.

No verification

The committee said that since Mr. Anil Kumar was the only DIG in the area, it was clear that the news report targeted the complainant. "Even if the respondent has received any such information, the report has been recklessly published without properly verifying the facts from authentic sources," said the order, a copy of which was made available to The Hindu here.

"The committee also noted that over the past one-and-half-years since the impugned report has been carried, there were no records of any inquiry into the matter (as has been claimed in the news report)," said the order.

Council Chairman G.N. Ray in his order said that the Council has decided to accept the inquiry committee's recommendation to direct the editor of Janmabhumi to "publish the apology tendered by it to the complainant in the columns of the newspaper with the same prominence as the impugned report within four weeks of the receipt of the adjudication and furnish the copies to the Council and to the complainant."

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Press Council reprimands Janmabhumi

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu