By IANS,
Mumbai : Senior journalists Thursday met Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan and asked him to intervene in an incident in which a Karnataka legislative assembly committee held an editor responsible for allegedly publishing defamatory stories against two legislators.
The seven-member delegation of senior journalists was led by senior journalist, Prafulla Marpakwar and group editor of Belgaum Tarun Bharat, Kiran Thakur. Belgaum is in Karnataka. Tarun Bharat is a prominent newspaper in Maharashtra also.
The Privileges Committee of Karnataka Legislative Assembly (KLA) had held Kiran Thakur guilty of breach of privilege on the basis of complaints of two Karnataka legislators for allegedly publishing defamatory stories against them.
Thakur told Sankaranarayanan that he has been asked by the privileges committee to appear before it July 30 and also to tender an apology to the legislators.
He further said the committee has also decided to recommend to the Press Council of India to derecognise Tarun Bharat Belgaum.
This, the delegation said, was akin to muzzling the freedom of press and submitted a memorandum to Sankaranarayanan in this regard.