Chennai : First a protest, then a brutal attack and now a Crude bomb attack – this is the kind of threat being meted out by the leading Tamil News channel Puthiya Thalaimurai TV.
Four unidentified men, who came on two motorcycles, hurled two country made bombs at the office of a Tamil TV channel at Ekkaduthangal in Chennai on today (12th March) morning.
Police said the bombs that were kept in tiffin boxes were of low intensity, and there was no damage to the office of the Puthiya Thalaimurai TV channel.
No one was injured in the attack that happened at 3.30am.
The CCTV cameras installed outside the office captured the images of the attackers but police examination of them has revealed dark and shadowy pictures of the suspects who are spotted loitering in the area 30 minutes before the attack.
The incident happened four days after a cameraman of the channel was allegedly assaulted by a few Hindu Munnani activists.
The TV channel faced protests by some groups against its decision to telecast a debate on ‘mangal sutra.’
Puthiya Thalaimurai has put the telecast of the show on hold in the wake of protests, which began after the channel aired some visuals of the program to promote the show.
It may be recalled that 10 activists of a Hindu outfit (Hindu Munnani) were arrested for attacking a cameraman and damaging the property of the Tamil News channel on 8th March.
Leading Journalist bodies like Chennai Press Club and Working Jounalist Union of Tamil Nadu (WJUT) had strongly condemned the attack on Media. while, DMK MP Kanimozhi has raised the issue in Rajya Sabha.
The President of WJUT Mr. Sagayaraj who has condemned the earlier attack said that ”WJUT has already organised protests all over Tamil Nadu. With this Crude bomb attack the religious fundamentalists are threatening to suppress the media’s freedom of expression, we will not bow down to such act of coward and we will stand behind Puthiya Thalaimurai TV to uphold the right of Media and freedom of Press”
Various political parties in Tamil Nadu also expressed shock over the bomb attack and demanded the state government to nab the culprits behind the attack immediately.
