Arrests – Journalists

R.R. Gopal, Editor of Tamil magazine Nakkeeran , was on Tuesday arrested in Chennai under Section 124 IPC, a provision that deals with “assaulting President/Governor with intent to compel or restrain the exercise of any lawful power” on a complaint from the Raj Bhavan, but was set free by a magistrate in the evening.

The complaint was submitted by T. Sengottaiyan, Deputy Secretary to the Governor, to the Commissioner of Police on October 6, accusing Nakkeeran  of publishing defamatory reports. These reports insinuated that the Governor and senior Raj Bhavan officials had links with Nirmala Devi, an assistant professor, who was arrested in April on charges of attempted trafficking of college girls.

Mr. Sengottaiyan sought invocation of Section 124 IPC against Mr. Gopal, 31 employees and three distributors of the magazine, saying publishing three articles — two in April and one in September — amounted to “clearly an expression of intention of inducing or compelling His Excellency the Governor of Tamil Nadu to refrain from exercising his lawful powers as Governor.”

The Zam Bazaar police arrested Mr. Gopal at the Chennai airport minutes before he was to board a flight to Pune in the morning and brought him to the Chindatripet police station. MDMK leader Vaiko arrived outside the station and staged a dharna, following which he was detained.