The editor of a Tamil weekly was arrested on Tuesday following a complaint from Raj Bhavan over a series of articles that had alleged damaging references to governor Banwarilal Purohit in connection with a sex scandal.
Senior journalist R. Gopal, who edits the magazine Nakkheeran and had written articles on the sex scandal involving a woman college teacher, was picked up by a police team from Chennai airport when he was on his way to Pune, sources said.
Gopal was arrested under Section 124 of the Indian Penal Code, relating to “assaulting President, Governor etc with intent to compel or restrain the exercise of any lawful power”, the sources said. The section entails a maximum punishment of seven years in jail.
They said the action was taken on a complaint from Raj Bhavan over the articles that have been published in the magazine since April. The articles related to allegations that an assistant professor of a private college in Virudhunagar district had asked girl students to extend sexual favours to officials in return for marks and money.
The arrest of Gopal, who shot to the limelight after he negotiated with forest brigand Veerappan for the release of veteran Kannada actor Rajkumar in 2000, was condemned by the principal Opposition in Tamil Nadu, the DMK, and other parties that alleged that an “undeclared emergency” had been imposed in the state.
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan claimed there was a “conspiracy” to “implicate” the governor in the sex scandal as several politicians feared their careers could be doomed if the entire truth came out.
AMMK leader T.T.V. Dinakaran, who had earlier been with the ruling AIADMK, defended the police action, saying there was no place for “defamatory” articles.
The assistant professor, Nirmala Devi, is currently in custody.
The scandal came to light in April after an audio tape of purported conversations between Nirmala and some students surfaced.
The professor had purportedly claimed in the tapes that she knew the governor and had access to him. Purohit had rejected her claim and said he did not know her.
In his capacity as chancellor of the university to which Nirmala’s college is affiliated, the governor had ordered an inquiry into the scandal by a retired IAS officer.
Condemning the arrest of Gopal, DMK chief M.K. Stalin hit out at the governor and the AIADMK government for “imposing an undeclared emergency and threatening media freedom”.
“What is happening in Tamil Nadu?” Stalin asked. “Is Tamil Nadu a democratic state? The corrupt AIADMK government and the governor have imposed an undeclared emergency and are threatening media freedom.”
The DMK chief, who called on Gopal at a hospital where the editor was taken after his arrest, sought the withdrawal of the case and his immediate release.
Leaders of the PMK, CPM and the CPI, actor and chief of the fledgling Makkal Neethi Maiam Kamal Haasan, and MDMK chief Vaiko were among those who slammed the arrest of Gopal.
Talking to reporters in Chennai, Union minister Radhakrishnan said: “There are fears that if the matter came to light, the political lives of many politicians would become a question mark. So there is a big conspiracy. There is a big conspiracy to implicate the governor and make allegations against him.”
Radhakrishnan recalled that the one-man inquiry commission headed by retired IAS officer R. Santhanam was yet to complete its probe and file a report.
Dinakaran said he saw nothing wrong in the arrest.
“I don’t feel this is wrong. If someone spreads false charges (against the governor), the police have the authority to act against them,” he told reporters in Tiruchirappalli.
The Madras Reporters Guild, Madras Union of Journalists and the Chennai Press Club condemned the arrest as “reprehensible, undemocratic and against the canons of free speech and expression.”
“It is open to the police or the government to file a case against any journalist or media organisation. But to arrest a journalist as a first step of the investigation is uncalled for and totally unnecessary,” the guild said in a statement.
Vaiko, denied permission to meet Gopal at a police station where the journalist was taken, staged an impromptu dharna against the police. He was detained and taken to a nearby marriage hall, the police said.