The row between the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) and daily Andhra Jyothi took a turn for the worse Tuesday with the arrest of editor K Srinivas and two reporters under the provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Hindu has reported.
Some details:
The arrest of the journalists was based on a complaint lodged by MRPS leader Manda Krishna Madiga alleging that the action of Andhra Jyothi staffers in slapping an effigy with footwear attracted the provisions of the Act. This alleged incident took place near Jubilee Hills check post during a rally taken out by newspaper employees in protest against the attack on the Andhra Jyothi office by MRPS activists on May 26.
They were protesting against a report in the daily describing some unnamed leaders belonging to backward classes as ‘saleable commodities’.
Tuesday’s high drama unfolded in the afternoon, when police summoned two reporters of the daily to Jubilee Hills police station and announced their arrest. The newspaper staff rushed to the station and objected to the manner in which the arrests were carried out. Succumbing to the pressure, the police took the arrested reporters to the daily’s office in Jubilee Hills where arguments continued for well over two hours over the propriety of the arrest.
