Pub attack: ‘no witness responded to notices’ - Dr Acharya

The Hindu

• The incident took place in Mangalore in January 2009

 

Bangalore, 24 November 2011: Even after three years of the attack on a pub in Mangalore by the Sri Rama Sene, none of the witnesses, including those from the media, have responded to the notices issued by the police, Higher Education Minister V.S. Acharya has said.

 

File Photo

 

Dr. Acharya, who was the Home Minister then, said the police dispatched several notices to 22 witnesses who were at the scene when the attack took place on January 24, 2009. Dr. Acharya made a departure from his prepared speech to recall the media coverage of the incident while delivering the inaugural address at the National Conference on ‘Media and human rights: the global scenario’ here on Wednesday.

 

“Even before the police reached the spot, the media crew was present. I learnt about the incident after I got a call from a TV news channel from Delhi,” Dr. Acharya recalled.

 

Speaking to presspersons later, he described the incident as a “media hoax”.

 

Dr. Acharya was critical of the media for “blowing out of proportion” the attacks on churches in the State.

 

Though he came down on the attacks, saying “they should not have happened”, Dr. Acharya, apparently referring to former Bajrang Dal leader Mahendra Kumar, said the head of the “fringe group” responsible for the attack later joined a political party [JD-S].

 

Dr. Acharya criticised the media for “sensationalising” the incident involving a Kerala MLA’s daughter, who was allegedly targeted in Mangalore, where she was studying.

 

Media ombudsman

 

Dr. Acharya recalled the criticism he drew for suggesting the appointment of a media ombudsman. “I merely put forward the proposal made by somebody as a suggestion. But, I drew flak for it,” he said before adding that the current discourse on media accountability, particularly for the electronic media, was coming round to the very views he espoused then.