Further action after receiving report from 4-member committee: Kerala CM

Thiruvananthapuram: Cabinet on Wednesday constituted a four-member committee headed by chief secretary to examine recommendations of P. S. Antony Judicial Commission which probed former transport minister A. K. Saseendran’s phone sex with a woman and its telecast by Mangalam TV on March 26.

At the cabinet briefing, the chief minister said further action on the recommendations would be after receiving the report from the committee, which will have additional CS home, I and PRD principal secretary and law secretary as its members.

The commission recommended the government to send a copy of its report to the Union information and broadcasting ministry for reopening the complaint against the television channel and for cancellation of its broadcasting licence.

It asked the government to send the report to Press Council of India for necessary action. That the channel had no self-regulation and membership with NBA should be brought to the notice of I and B ministry.

It called for expediting the investigation into criminal cases pending in court and prosecuting the channel owner and all those who were behind the telecast of the voice clip under IT Act section 67,67 A, 84 B,85 and IPC 120 B, 201, 294, 463, 464, 469, 470 and 471. It wanted the prosecution of its CEO, R. Ajith Kumar, under Section 182 IPC.

Given the increasing number of cyber crimes in the state, the commission recommended setting up of a special court in Ernakulam for them. Besides, the police department should constitute cybercrime divisions in all districts and deploy specially trained personnel at these centres for effective investigation and to curb such cases.