Mangalam TV CEO, eight others booked

KERALA

A TOP executive and eight employees of Mangalam TV were booked on Friday in connection with the airing of a lewd conversation that allegedly transpired between former transport minister A K Saseendran and a woman, police said.

The FIR was registered against nine persons, including Mangalam channel CEO and Managing Director R Ajit Kumar, on a complaint by the youth wing of Nationalist Congress Party for airing “obscene conversation”, they said.

In its complaint, the Nationalist Youth Congress accused the channel of having misused electronic media and airing “obscene conversation”. The NYC also filed a complaint with the Indian Broadcasting Foundation against the channel, alleging it had violated rules under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act and had no right to function.

Meanwhile, a group of women journalists marched into the office of Mangalam TV and alleged that the channel’s sting operation amounted to insulting women mediapersons.

The journalists, protesting under the banner of Network of Women in Media, held placards which said “proud of my integrity, proud to be a woman journalist”. They also protested the claim that the woman reporter had “voluntarily” come forward for the sting, saying the matter had hurt their credibility. Meanwhile, four journalists resigned from Mangalam TV.