Mumbai, Jan 31 (IANS) A delegation of journalists Tuesday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to discuss the action on attack on a media house last week.
“We met Chavan and he has assured that he will ask the law enforcement agencies to look into the attack on the Times of India office,” said Praful Marpakwar, a member of Patrakar Halla Virodhi Samiti.
The organisation will be carrying out demonstrations throughout the state Friday to protest against the attack.
More than 50 angry Shiv Sena activists had Saturday stormed into the Times Of India building here and damaged furniture and fittings in the reception areas of the newspaper’s office.
The activists were protesting against a report published in Maharashtra Times, the Marathi language daily of the ToI Group, allegedly speculating that party MP from Amravati, Anandrao Adsul, was planning to defect to the Nationalist Congress Party.
“Chavan has also assured that a bill protecting journalists against such attacks will be discussed in the budget session of the assembly,” Marpakwar said.
Adsul and his son, legislator Abhijit, as well as another party MP and Saamna (the Shiv Sena mouthpiece) editor Sanjay Raut, had indirectly supported the attack on grounds that the activists were provoked in view of baseless and unconfirmed reports published by the Maharashtra Times.
Later, Abhijit Adsul attempted to shirk responsibility claiming that the attackers did not belong to the party and could have been ordinary people.
