Unable to stomach an editorial on the Jayalalithaa government ‘‘scaling new heights of intolerance’’ and claiming that it ‘‘attributed motive to the House as a whole and lowered its dignity,’’ the Tamil Nadu Assembly today took the extreme step of ordering the arrests of six senior journalists, including two top editors of The Hindu. Charging them with breach of privilege and ‘‘gross contempt’’ of the House through an editorial in April this year, Speaker K Kalimuthu ordered a 15-day prison term. ‘It will backfire’ • N Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu: “We will take up this misadventure first through our editorial and then through the courts. They have picked up a wrong target which is going to backfire.” • BJP: ‘‘The sentences to journalists would demean democracy and should be withdrawn immediately’’ • Editors Guild of India: ‘‘Undemocratic. The Assembly’s action has hit the freedom of press’’ • M Karunanidhi: ‘‘Opposition parties will organise a human chain in TN on Nov 12 in protest’’ Kalimuthu issued arrest warrants against The Hindu’s then Editor N Ravi, Executive Editor Malini Parthasarathy, publisher S Rangarajan, Chief of Bureau V Jayant and Special Correspondent Radha Venkatesan. The editorial was based on an article written by Jayant and Venkatesan who is now abroad. DMK MLA Parithi Ilamvazhuthi was arrested after the Assembly sentenced him to 30 days imprisonment for ‘‘his misconduct in the House.’’ Parithi was picked up from the gate number 4 and taken through the corridors of the Assembly amidst high drama and lodged in the Central Prison. Jayalalithaa told the House that she was not inclined to press the privilege issue on the reports which were against her personally but the editorial impinged on the dignity of the House. As the entire Opposition protested, Kalimuthu also ordered the arrest of S Selvam, Editor of DMK mouthpiece Murasoli, for publishing the translated version of the editorial. He suspended the Assembly passes of all the reporters of the two dailies for 15 days. N Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, hit out at the Assembly action, describing it as ‘‘outrageous’’ and said the paper would fight it out in the court. Immediately after the Speaker’s order, a police team reached The Hindu office in the heart of the city to execute it.The privilege issue was raised by RPI member, C K Tamilarasan in March and the matter was then referred to the Privileges Committee. The report of the committee, headed by Deputy Speaker Arunachalam, was tabled in the House this evening. Leader of the House and Finance Minister C Ponnaiyan moved a resolution accepting the recommendations of the Privileges Committee. The resolution was adopted amidst protests from the entire Opposition including DMK, PMK, Congress, BJP, CPI and CPI-M. While the names of the top executives of The Hindu were not mentioned in the resolution, it named the Chief of Bureau V Jayanth and Special Correspondent Radha Venkatesan for facing imprisonment.
