THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Human Rights Commission on Friday slapped a case on the police for registering cases against journalists, who were brutally attacked by lawyers in Thiruvananthapuram on October 14. Coming down heavily on the cops for “unnecessarily” registering counter cases against journalists, including The New Indian Express principal correspondent Prabhat Nair, PTI’s J Ramakrishnan, C P Ajitha of Asianet and Justina Thomas of Manorama News, the commission took suo motu cognisance of news reports on the incident - which took place at the court of Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge (Vigilance) - and ordered a high-level inquiry by an officer not below the rank of DySP into the incident. It asked that the inquiry report be submitted within a month. It noted that the police registered cases against journalists, including two women journalists, after giving station bail to the lawyers accused in the incident.
“The journalists were attacked when they were reporting proceedings inside the court. From news reports, it is understood that police registered cases, without any specific reason, against journalists who were engaged in their duty,” it observed.