Kerala police search Malayalam web portal’s offices, employees’ homes

A criminal case was filed against Skaria based on a complaint by Sreenijin, alleging that Skaria intentionally humiliated him by making “false allegations and accusations through a video uploaded in Marunadan Malayali” on May 24. The case was registered under sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(u) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and section 120 of Kerala Police Act.

During the searches at various locations, including offices at Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi, police seized several gadgets, including laptops and cameras.

In a video released on the Marunadan Malayali YouTube channel on Tuesday, Skaria said the searches showed that politicians and criminals had ganged up against the portal and wanted to see it shutting down. “Police have raided offices across the state as if they were looking for a terrorist,” he said, adding that “raids were held not only at the houses of journalists, but even at the premises of their relatives and friends”. He said 22 computers, four laptops and four cameras had been seized.

The Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) condemned the police action. “Police are free to conduct a probe against Shajan if he is facing a case. But it is highly deplorable that houses of journalists associated with Marunadan Malayali were raided,” the KUWJ said in a statement.

On June 30, while rejecting Skaria’s appeal challenging the decision by a special court to deny him anticipatory bail in the case, Justice V G Arun of the High Court had said, “The four Ws of journalism used to guide journalists in their reporting and helped in ensuring accuracy and completeness of news stories. The four Ws and sometimes the fifth ‘Why’ used to serve as a framework for journalists to gather information. Videos like the one under consideration makes one wonder whether the Ws have been replaced with Ds – defame, denigrate, damnify and destroy.”

The court noted that Skaria had levelled allegations of murder against Srinijin and made insinuations against the legislator’s father-in-law (former CJI K G Balakrishnan), as well as aspersions on unnamed judicial officers.