Kerala Journalist union condemns raids on Marunadan Malayali staff amid hunt for its owner

The Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), on Tuesday, issued a statement strongly condemning the raids by the police on the houses of the workers of the YouTube-centric media company Marunadan Malayali.

The Kerala police in the last two days conducted raids at the homes and relatives of all the media workers and also seized their mobile phones, to trace the location of the editor Shajan Skaria.

Journalist union condemns raids on media company's staff

Union president MV Vineetha expressed her objection to the raid and said it is completely unheard of to investigate workers when the case is against the owner.

R Kiran Babu, general secretary of KUWJ, said "The Union's position is that if there is a case against Marunadan Malayali and its owner Shajan Skaria, it should be investigated and if he is guilty, he should be punished but implicating workers of the organization is deplorable and undermines the dignity of Kerala Police”

“Four Jeeps full of policemen conducted a raid at a woman journalist's home just because she is working there. This is traumatizing for the journalist and their families” stated another union member.

The police search was set into motion in response to a significant development in the legal proceedings. On Saturday, July 1, the Kerala High Court made a consequential decision to cancel the anticipatory bail of Shajan Skariah in a defamation case. The case had been filed by CPI(M) MLA PV Sreenijan and involved an additional section pertaining to the SC/ST Atrocities Act.

This ruling by the court prompted the initiation of a police search to locate and apprehend Shajan Skariah.