REFUGEE

CHENNAI: For the first time, cracks seem to have appeared in the well-cemented relationship between actors of the Tamil film industry and the

local media. Following the arrest of B Lenin, the news editor of the Tamil daily Dinamalar,' on Wednesday night, members of the Madras Union of Journalists came together in a show of strength at the Press Club on Thursday. Separately, a delegation of actors met chief minister M Karunanidhi at his residence and apprised him of the issue.

Wednesday had already witnessed the coming together of several stars on the premises of the South Indian Artistes Association to condemn the daily for a recent article naming a number of Tamil actors, following the arrest of Bhuvaneswari, an actor, under the Immoral Trafficking Act. "We are career actors and trying to equate us with (those involved in) the oldest profession is wrong," said actor Radhika Sarath Kumar. "The defamatory article was anti-women and anti-family and many of the children of actors were traumatised by the allegations," she added. "We plan to approach the Press Council of India and also boycott the daily," she added.

Meanwhile, the Madras Union of Journalists has condemned the hasty manner in which the police had arrested Lenin. While the film stars had every right to file a criminal or civil complaint and the police were entitled to investigate the case, the MUJ felt that arresting the news editor hurriedly was completely unwarranted. "It was done to please the film fraternity without issuing any summons to the daily's editor and publisher. The police could have prosecuted the publishers on the basis of the report itself and it does not warrant custodial interrogation of someone who cannot be held accountable for the news report," the MUJ said.