Former Kerala parliamentarian Sebastian Paul who drew flak after appealing for sympathy for the jailed actor Dileep through an article said he is contemplating action against his “subordinate journalists” who took to social media to oppose the article published in a news portal edited by him.
Paul, who is the Editor-in-Chief and Chairman of the Malayalam news portal southlive.in, wrote a column titled ‘Sympathy is Not Crime, There Should Be Questions For Dileep, Too’ in which he passionately argued against the public outrage against Dileep, who is facing trial from jail on charges of conspiring sexual assault on a leading South Indian actress in a moving car in Kochi in February.
Paul, in his article, said “There is no need to probe the intention of a man who sexually assaults a woman,” adding, “(The main accused) Pulsar Suni must have planned (and executed) the assault in the case in which Dileep has been accused.”
His column invited sharp reactions from various quarters, including the journalists of the news portal.
Paul’s colleagues took to social media and said they had opposed Paul’s article but he got it published by putting pressure on them through the website’s management.
Speaking to Outlook, Paul, who had been an independent MP with support of the CPI(M), said he had full authority to express his view in his publication as the Editor-in-Chief.
On the protest by his own colleagues, he said, “It is an unprecedented and strange phenomenon. The subordinate staff has no authority to question the chief editor. That is the accepted and established practice in all media organizations.”
When asked whether he will take any action against them, he said, “I haven’t taken any action yet. But, I am contemplating.”
“My only provocation (to write the article) was the concerted attempt to defame, malign and isolate Dileep even by prominent personalities. They were criticising even the film personalities who met Dileep in jail,” he said.
However, there have been rumours accusing Dileep of trying to create a sympathy wave for him through paid PR activities. After his arrest, the sudden burst of contents in favour of him on social media and news publications was flagged by many people. This had happened at a time many people went on rampage against him and attacked the restaurant owned by him.
Earlier, PC George MLA had also dawn flak for his open support of Dileep by questioning the police probe and even attempting to victim-shame the actress. The actress had then wrote an open letter to the Chief Minister against George’s statements.