NEW DELHI, 9 November 2003 — Indian leaders across the spectrum yesterday condemned a state government for giving six journalists 15-day jail terms and sending police to the office of a top daily paper over critical news coverage.

The assembly in the southern state of Tamil Nadu Friday ordered the jail terms against journalists of The Hindu after the newspaper said the provincial government showed “rising intolerance” toward political opponents.

After the assembly vote, more than 20 police entered The Hindu’s headquarters in the state capital Madras, but an editor told them he would not let them search without a warrant, newspaper staff members said.

Police returned with a warrant and looked into the offices of top editors, but did not carry out any arrests. Apparently, the six went into hiding as the organization prepared to move the Supreme Court.

Later yesterday, the Supreme Court fixed tomorrow as the day to hear the petition of the journalists demanding a stay and nullification of the arrest orders.

The assembly ordered 15 days in jail for The Hindu’s publisher S. Rangarajan, Editor N. Ravi, Executive Editor Malini Parthasarathy, Associate Editor and Tamil Nadu Bureau Chief V. Jayanth and Special Correspondent Radha Venkatesan.

It gave the same sentence to S. Selvam, editor of the Tamil-language daily Murasoli which is close to the province’s main opposition party, for publishing a translation of an editorial in The Hindu.

It said the six were guilty of “breach of privilege” for articles and an editorial about Chief Minister Jayalalitha Jayaram’s government.

The Hindu had written that the government made “crude use of state power” by arresting a leading political opponent and allegedly harassing independent media.

In a rare agreement, India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition Congress party both said the Tamil Nadu authorities acted improperly.

Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani said he was “pained” by the assembly’s moves, which BJP President Venkaiah Naidu said “can weaken democracy and therefore need to be withdrawn.”

“We as responsible persons in public life and representatives of the people are expected to be liberal about criticism,” Naidu told reporters in New Delhi.

India’s main communist party termed the assembly action a “gross misuse of legislative privilege.”

Media groups across India expressed outrage at the sentence, with a journalists union in Tamil Nadu planning a one-day protest fast today.

Criticizing the move, the All India Newspaper Editors’ Conference expressed the hope that freedom of press will prevail. AINEC President Vishwa Bandhu Gupta said in a statement: “This is a direct attack on the freedom of the press and democracy. We appeal to the chief minister of Tamil Nadu and the state assembly to reconsider their decision and respect the freedom of the press in the country.”

Taking a “serious view” of the “undemocratic” action by the speaker against the newspaper’s journalists, the Editors Guild of India said it “directly hits the freedom of the press and goes against the democratic spirit we all swear by”. In a statement, guild president Hari Jaisingh and secretary general Alok Mehta said: “The press is a major pillar of the Indian democracy. It has freedom to express itself freely and fearlessly in public interest. This is what democracy is all about. This stern action is undemocratic and is therefore uncalled for”.

Hindustan Times Editorial Director Shobhana Bhartia said the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker’s decision against The Hindu appeared to be a “deliberate attempt” to subvert the fundamental right of speech.

Veteran journalist and parliamentarian Kuldip Nayyar said the imprisonment order was “a big attack on the freedom of press and the press should not take it lying down”.

The Speaker should have called the Editor and talked to him, Nayyar said. At best, he should have admonished him, he added.

The Press Association, an organization of accredited correspondents, described it as “an attempt to muzzle the freedom of the press” and reflected the “growing intolerance” in society.

The Press Council of India held a special meeting to discuss the issue and appealed to the TN Speaker to revoke the order. ”We are concerned as it involves the freedom of the press. The Hindu has been very responsible. We appeal to the Tamil Nadu speaker to revoke the order,” chairman, Press Council of India, Justice K Jayachandra Reddy said.

Meanwhile, journalists across the nation have voiced their protests in different ways. In Andhra Pradesh, the journalists took out a protest rally. Journalists in Tamil Nadu plan to go on a fast today to condemn the state government’s move.

Challenging the TN government’s decision, The Hindu plans to move the courts “as quickly as possible.” Hindu’s Editor-in-Chief N Ram told journalists at the Madras Press Club in Chennai yesterday that the paper has decided to seek legal remedy.

Earlier, the Supreme and the High Courts have intervened to quash several orders sentencing journalists. In one case, the Supreme Court quashed an order sentencing a magazine’s reporter, in another, the High Court stayed a similar verdict. The Speaker was once even ordered by the High Court to pay Rs 1,000 fine to a journalist for infringing on his right to free press, speech and _expression.