A day after media persons were again assaulted by a group of lawyers at the Vigilance Court in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan lashed out at the lawyers, strongly condemning the attack.
The Chief Minister was speaking at the inauguration of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) state conference in Kochi on Saturday.
Pinarayi said that the lawyers should not think that they wield the same power as that of the judiciary, and that they were not the ones to decide who will enter the court premises.
"Courts are not the private property of the lawyers," Pinarayi reiterated.
“Any attack on the freedom of press will be firmly dealt with. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that law and order is maintained. And the government will firmly deal with any incident that poses a threat to freedom of the press in the state,” the CM warned.
Despite the Kerala High Court assuring that there was no ban on the entry of journalists to the court premises, four journalists were attacked by a group of lawyers on Friday. They barged into the court room, manhandled a senior reporter from one of the leading dailies, and led him out of the court, right in front of the judge.
The attack on Friday proved that the lawyers were trying to even go against the Chief Justice’s decision, opined Pinarayi.
Certain vested interests are trying to sabotage the understanding reached between the government and the judiciary in the on-going lawyers-media tussle, he added.
Meanwhile, a case has been registered by the Vanchiyoor police against five lawyers, namely Anayara Shaji, Subash, Rathin, Arun and Rahul, based on a complaint filed by the journalists on Friday.