Chennai: A media action group strongly condemned the detention of two vernacular journalists, who were the assistance of French journalists, working on a mission to collect documentary evidence on beach sand mining in Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari district last week.
The representatives of the media advocacy, Alliance for Media Freedom, debunked a false narrative advanced by the BJP leader Pon. Rashkrishnan that the two visitors were “spies”.
N Ram, Chairman of THG Publishing Private Limited, Sashi Kumar, chairman of Media Development Foundation and Peer Mohamed, founder of Ippodhu.com also seconded the media action group.
Pointing the fake stories reports, Kumar said, “It was to draw the attention away from the question of why the French journalists were in Kanyakumari.”
Anandhakumar and Sriram had visited Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari along with accredited French journalists Jules Giraudat and Arthur Bouvart in late November.
The French network is to provide a platform for journalists under risk from forces of repression and censorship, so that “their stories are alive, should they be killed,” according to a statement from Alliance For Media Freedom.
The Kanyakumari police, in the FIR, said the Frenchmen, along with a local parish priest, were involved in “videography in beach mining areas” and interviewed fisherfolk in Chinnavilai, where photography and videography is prohibited.
The French journalists have been booked for violation of visa rules. The names of Anandhakumar and Sriram have not been figured in the FIR, but Ram said there are chances of inclusion.
Both the journalists were summoned to appear at the Kanyakumari police station this week.
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