Journalist among five persons booked over mark list row; KUWJ criticises Kerala govt


PTI | Kochi | Updated: 10-06-2023 22:31 IST | Created: 10-06-2023 22:15 IST
Journalist among five persons booked over mark list row; KUWJ criticises Kerala govt
Representative Image. Image Credit: ANI
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Five persons, including a journalist of a leading Malayalam channel and the principal of a government college in Kerala, have been booked here on the basis of a complaint filed by a left-wing student leader alleging that they conspired to tarnish his image in connection with a mark list row. Police have also booked the state president of Kerala Students Union (KSU), the student wing of the opposition Congress, a staff member and another student of the Maharaja's College here under conspiracy and defamation charges on the basis of a complaint filed by P M Arsho, state secretary of SFI, the student wing of ruling CPI(M). A case was registered by police under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code such as Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 465 (forgery) and 500 (defamation) among others on June 9.

According to the FIR, the accused conspired to tarnish the image of Arsho and the SFI and allegedly circulated a fake mark list.

The case has been registered against college principal V S Joy, former coordinator of the Archaeology department Vinod Kumar, KSU president Alotious Xavier, a student Fazil C A and a woman journalist of a private news channel.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) condemned the registration of the case against the journalist and said it was anti-democratic.

''The case was registered against the journalist for reporting the news. It's anti-democratic and an infringement on media freedom. The case was registered for reporting the allegation raised by the KSU leader on Live television,'' KUWJ said in a statement.

A controversy erupted on June 6 after KSU had raised an allegation showing a mark list in which Arsho, who is also a student of Maharaja's College in Ernakulam, had ''passed'' even though he did not attend any exam.

Talking to the media on Friday, Arsho had said the college had claimed it as a technical error.

''A fake result was published in March 2023 in which the complainant has passed an exam which he did not even register and the same was circulated through social media on June 6 with an intention to tarnish the image of the complainant and SFI,'' the FIR read.

Arsho had alleged that there was a conspiracy behind the incident.

''In this matter, my name was included in a mark list of a batch which I am not part of. And then the KSU finds the said marklist. There was a conspiracy behind it and the probe will bring out the culprits,'' Arsho had said.

KSU had alleged that in the mark list of the third semester archaeology examination list, it was shown that Arsho had cleared the exam even though he did not take it up.

However, later, the college clarified that his name was seen among another batch's result and clarified it as a technical error.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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