On 16 June 1998, four journalists, including two photographers, were hospitalised with serious injuries after they were attacked at the additional District Court in Kollam, Kerala state, by activists of the ruling Marxist Communist Party (CPM). Police reportedly stayed away from the court premises until the attack was over.
The hospitalised journalists are Tony Dominic of the daily "Malayala Monorama"; Josey George of the daily "Deepika"; Chandra Bose of the daily "Mathrubhumi"; and P. Manoj, also of "Mathrubhumi". The journalists had been at the court to report on the verdict in a double murder case in which CPM activists were charged with the murder of two political opponents. The court found three of the accused guilty of the offence.
The attack on the journalists began when the photographers tried to take pictures of the accused as they were brought to the court under police escort. The crowd outside the court seized the cameras from the photographers and destroyed them, brutally beating both the photographers and the reporters who tried to retrieve them.
