Is slapping an effigy an offence? Well, the Andhra Pradesh police seems to think so as they have arrested an editor and two reporters of a leading Telugu daily — Andhra Jyothi — for the act. The police action smacks of vengeance as Andhra Jyothi is known to be critical of Chief Minister Y S R Reddy’s policies. The arrests have attracted condemnation from many senior journalists and news editors. Andhra Jyothi’s managing editor V RadhaKrishna released a statement on Wednesday that the police would not have acted on such a trivial issue without the Government’s backing. The question everyone is asking is whether slapping or throwing chappals at an effigy is an offence or not. And, if the effigy is of a Dalit leader or a Dalit organisation, does it attract the provisions of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as in this case?Andhra Jyothi Editor K Srinivas and its two reporters T Srinivas and Vamsi Krishna were arrested for allegedly slapping and throwing slippers at an effigy of the president of Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) on May 26. They were part of a rally taken out by the newspaper employees in protest against the attack on their office by MRPS activists. The MRPS, an organisation for the backward classes and Dalits, is fighting for the classification of the SC and ST. The offences under the Act are non-bailable. The journalists were sent to jail on Wednesday after a magistrate remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days. MRPS activists had attacked the office of Andhra Jyothi and set the front office on fire on May 26, protesting against an article published in the newspaper. The article, without naming the leaders belonging to backward classes, alleged that they were compromising and meekly submitting to the Congress Government on certain issues over which they had earlier organised protests and dharnas. After the newspaper employees took out the rally, the MRPS leaders lodged a police complaint alleging that the staff’s action of throwing chappals at an effigy of an MRPS leader attracted the provisions of the Prevention of Atrocities Act. After sitting over the case for nearly a month, police swooped down on the Andhra Jyothi press and office in Jubilee Hills on Tuesday.The AP Working Journalists Union (APWJU), which slammed the Government and the Chief Minister for making blatant attempts to muzzle newspapers by unleashing terror, stated that the case was being twisted to settle scores. The union has called for statewide protests by journalists. Mediapersons, on Wednesday, boycotted the Press conference of Minister of State for Home and Secretariat briefings in protest against the arrests.K Sreenivas Reddy, president of the APWJU, said, “The effigy is just a symbol to register a protest. To claim that since it’s the effigy of a Dalit hence slapping it or throwing chappals at it is an offence is absurd. All political parties regularly burn, slap and kick effigies depicting people from all castes and creed. Did police ever file cases against them? The article did not mention any names of leaders from backward classes then why did only the MRPS and its leader take umbrage?”Citing the example of attacks on Loksatta’s Mumbai editor’s residence early this month and police cases against Times of India’s Ahmedabad editor, Reddy said leaders and organisations are unable to digest criticism. Revolutionary balladeer Gaddar in a press statement said the incident reminds him of Emergency days. “This is an undeclared emergency in the state now,” he said. TDP president Chandrababu Naidu said the Government was trying to muzzle newspapers exposing its misdeeds. Meanwhile, police officers said they had a case as the editor was seen standing beside the protestors, while the reporters beat up the effigy. They showed a photograph published on May 27 in the same daily. However, the police officers could not explain why they waited for 30 days if the photograph was the only evidence they had.
