Will again file case against media if stories against SFI done: Kerala CPI(M) Secy

The CPI(M) in Kerala, which is ruling the state, is facing flack in the SFI state secretary, P.M. Arsho matter after a case was filed against a woman journalist and others.

CPI(M) Kerala state secretary and senior leader, M.V. Govindan while speaking to media persons here on Sunday said that the government would again take a case against the media if it files stories against the student body of the party, the SFI.

The Ernakulam police in Kerala have registered a case against five people, including Prof Vinod Kumar of Maharajas College, Principal of the college Dr. V.S. Joy, state president of Congress student body, KSU Alosiouis Xavier and College unit president of KSU, C.A. Faisal and the Chief reporter of Asianet news, Akhila Nandakumar.

The case was registered following a complaint by SFI state secretary P.M. Arsho that Akhila Nandakumar had filed a story that he (Arsho) has passed an examination which he had not written, and it was intended to defame him. As per Arsho, he had not applied for the third semester examination of the 2021-22 batch of the postgraduate programme in Archeology and Material Cultural Studies and hence there was no possibility of him passing the examination.

The Kerala Student Union (KSU), the pro-Congress student body had claimed that in the college website document, it was mentioned that Arsho had passed the examination even though the total marks he gained was Zero.

The CPI(M) and the Left Front have always been campaigning for media freedom and often attack the BJP-led Centre as being against press freedom. The action of the Kerala Police against a woman journalist and the CPI(M) state secretary aggressively defending the same is being heavily criticised.

The SFI leader Arsho is already in the dock for allegations of protecting a former SFI activist, K.Vidya over forging documents to get a posting as a guest lecturer in a government college. The Kerala Police have registered a case against Vidya, but five days after there is no trace of the woman SFI leader.