A Hyderabad court on Monday dropped a key charge of ‘organised crime’ against two journalists who were arrested for posting and amplifying allegedly abusive content against the Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. According to the court, the charge cannot be imposed on the two journalists as it was not an organised crime and there were “no monetary transactions made”.
Two journalists – Pogadadanda Revathi, Managing Director of Pulse News, and Thanvi Yadav, a reporter for the same channel – were arrested by the Hyderabad Police’s Cyber Crime division last week. A third individual – the user of an X account titled ‘NippuKodi’ – is also under scrutiny.
The police acted on a complaint from the chief of the Congress’ state social media unit. They are facing charges such as spreading rumours to incite hatred and provoking a breach of peace.
They had posted a video on their X account in which a man allegedly made “derogatory” and “abusive” remarks about the Chief Minister. According to the complainant, the post constituted a “highly provocative” post, one that had the potential to incite violence and was a “deliberate attempt by Pulse TV to defame and spread propaganda”.
The police have said that the video was allegedly shot at the party office of the Bharat Rashtra Samiti and suspect there was a political conspiracy in its release in the run-up to the assembly session.
Days after the incident, Mr Reddy warned that strict action would be taken against those engaging in “defamatory propaganda under the guise of journalism” and threatened to strip and parade those crossing the line.
“We will respond to such criminals as required. If they hide behind a facade, that veil will be removed, and they will be exposed. Don’t create a spectacle. I am also a human being…We will act strictly according to the law and will not exceed any limits,” he said.
The arrest of the two journalists provoked massive criticism from the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), with KT Rama Rao accusing the state Congress government of being “intolerant of criticism”.
“It feels like a state of Emergency has returned in Telangana,” he said.
In a long post on X, he claimed that one of the journalists, Ms Revathi, had been arrested illegally, which included police raiding her home at 5 am and showed the Congress’ “Emergency-style rule”. He also called Ms Yadav’s arrest “atrocious” and criticised the lack of press freedom in Telangana.
