Mediapersons prevented from covering court proceeding,removed

At least three media personnel, who had come to cover proceedings in the Ice Cream parlour case in district court here, were removed by police this morning and taken to the police station.
Police said the action was taken allegedly at the instructions of the district judge.
The vehicle of the news channel was also removed from the court complex by police.
Police said the sub-inspector had stated there were directions from the judge to remove the media personnel and their vehicle from the court complex.
"We have apologised to the journalists', he said.
Binnu Raj of the news channel, who was among those removed, said he had told police that he had not done any mistake.

"But I along with the others was pushed, manhandled and removed and taken to the police station in a police vehicle," he alleged.

Media personnel said there were not prevented by lawyers, but by a police team led by town sub-inspector who insisted that he was following orders of the district judge.
Following the incident, media personnel are protesting in front of the Kozhikode police commissioner's office demanding suspension against Town SI Vimod.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters in New Delhi that he would enquire into the incident.
DGP Loknath Behra said the police department was not against media and if the SI had done any mistake, action would be taken.

Assistant Commissioner P K Raju said the media's grievances would be looked into. The media personnel were not arrested, he said.
Calicut Bar Association sources said they have not taken any decision to prevent media personnel from covering court proceedings.
Scribes in the state capital took out a protest march to the Secretariat covering their mouths and demanding action against police personnel responsible for the incident.
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Police later said mediapersons could not be allowed in the court as Maoist leader Rupesh was to be produced before it.
Opposition leader in the Assembly Ramesh Chennithala demanded that the state government intervene in the issue immediately.

"There should be no differences of opinion between media personnel and advocates, and government should intervene immediately to find a solution and not remain a mere spectator," he told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.
Stating that the Kozhikode incident cannot be justified, the Congress leader said journalists were not being allowed to freely engage in their profession for the past few days and pointed to such incidents at Kochi, Kollam and the state capital.
"The government should take action against the police official responsible for the incident at Kozhikode. No one is sure if the district judge gave any such order. The basic right of media personnel cannot be curbed. The government has a responsibility to ensure that media freedom is not hindered," Chennithala said.

Veteran Marxist leader, V S Achutanandan, is also understood to have called up DGP Loknath Behara about the incident.
CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendram termed as unfortunate the removal of media personnel from Kozhikode court complex.
BJP state President Kummanam Rajasekharan alleged that the continued attack on media personnel was at the "silent permission" of the Chief Minister.
"It is difficult to believe that the journalists were forcibly removed without the home department's knowledge and the Chief Minister should end his 'double stand' on the issue," he said.
The 'ice cream parlour' case pertains to an alleged sex racket in early 1990s, involving an ice cream parlour in Kozhikode, as its base. The parlour was allegedly used as a cover for running the sex scandal.

The case had since then been vigorously taken up by Achuthanandan and was dismissed by the Apex Court which gave a clean chit to Kunhalikutty, an Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader, in 2006.
Though Kunhalikutty never became an accused in the case, he had come under cloud in the wake of the scandal and even had to quit the ministry then.
On July 4 this year, the Apex Court dismissed a plea of Achuthanandan, seeking CBI probe into the scandal, saying it would not become party to "political battles where people have political vendetta and rivalries".
The SC had asked him to approach the trial court with his grievances about the probe and closure report filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).