Newspaper seeks troop protection

The widely circulated English daily The Hindu has asked the central government to send troops to guard its reporters who are threatened with arrest by the government of Tamil Nadu.

The appeal came after the Tamil Nadu state assembly on Friday ordered the arrest of the chief editor of The Hindu, N. Ram, four of his senior journalists and the editor of another regional publication.

This follows the defamation case filed in the Chennai Court by Jayalalitha yesterday against the Hindu immediately after the Supreme Court stayed the arrest ordered against five Hindu staff members by the speaker of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.

Hearing in the case filed by Jayalalitha has been posted for November 21.

The Chief Editor of The Hindu N. Ram told the media Monday that the Jayalalitha government was targeting the Hindu group.

He told a press conference that several incidents have taken place to prove that The Hindu was targeted by Jayalalitha.

For example, he said, when he and other Hindu members were in Bangalore last Saturday to attend the 125th anniversary of the paper, Tamil Nadu police in plain clothes had roughed up his brother N. Murali apparently mistaking him for the other brother N. Ravi (against whom the speaker has issued an arrest order).

Ram said that he has informed Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani and sought his cooperation for the protection of Hindu staff against Jayalalitha and her government. He has asked for posting of Central Reserve Police to protect The Hindu.

On Monday the Supreme Court stayed the arrests, saying "Every institution, be it legislature, media or judiciary, has to respect other institutions."

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee also said lives should be respected. Vajpayee said he had not spoken on the issue to state chief minister, whose assembly Friday ordered the arrests for "breach of privilege."

Protests against the Tamil Nadu government spread yesterday to Maharashtra where journalists in the town of Kolhapur staged a public rally, officials said.