Tamil Nadu’s move to arrest a Tamil magazine editor using an antediluvian law on assaulting constitutional functionaries like the President and governors was extremely ill-advised. The fact the police complaint came from Raj Bhavan is a clear pointer to the abuse of power by the governor. Arresting someone for publishing even a scurrilous article is unacceptable. There are criminal defamation laws that can be used to pinpoint innuendo or publishing of fake news. The magazine may have got a reputation for challenging authority and powerful people based on information that may have been less than solid, but the right to question people in high offices can’t be abridged by the threat to jail editors and publishers. There’s no reason to believe he has anything to do with the curious case of a jailed assistant professor misleading students into a sex-for-comforts scandal. He is, however, not doing his own reputation any good by acting like a medieval ruler. It’s as well that a magistrate’s court refused to see this as fit case to jail an editor or his staff.
