Kerala’s Left Democratic Front government has been accused of a double standard on press freedom, its stand on the BBC documentary on Narendra Modi contrasted with the police questioning of a Kerala journalist who had commented against alleged Left violence during a shutdown a year ago.

Vinu V. John, associate editor with Asianet News, was questioned at the Cantonment police station in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.

John had during a panel discussion last April asked how a particular CPM leader would have felt had he or his family members been attacked the way an auto-rickshaw driver was assaulted by alleged Left cadres for ferrying a patient to a hospital during the shutdown.

Sindhu Sooryakumar, executive editor of the channel, told The Telegraph on Thursday that John appeared before the police as required at 11am and had his statement recorded.

“Our lawyer was among those who accompanied him. They submitted a recording of the discussion where the alleged statement was made. The whole process took only about 15 minutes,” Sooryakumar said.

Asianet News is part of the Asianet bouquet of channels whose parent company, Jupiter Capital, is owned by the Union minister of state for skill development, Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Elamaram Kareem, the CPM Rajya Sabha MP and Citu general secretary to whom John’s question had been directed, had lodged a police complaint late last April construing the comment as a call to attack him.

John, the face of the channel, on February 21 tweeted a copy of the notice asking him to appear for questioning and commented: “Check out what the Kerala govt is doing under the LDF. A senior journalist has been summoned for interrogation after (the police) registering a case based on a complaint filed by a CPI(M) Rajyasabha MP for speaking for citizens upholding Art 19(1)(d) of the Constitution.”

Article 19(1)(d) of the Constitution entitles every citizen to move freely throughout the country. Supreme Court lawyer Abhilash M.R. accused the Left government of a double standard, alluding to the CPM’s criticism of the central government’s efforts to block online access to the BBC documentary, India: The Modi Question. The CPM had screened the documentary publicly across Kerala.

“Ironic that the party and its point man in Parliament guard BBC and press freedom in Delhi and press the freedom of its critics in Kerala,” Abhilash wrote in a lengthy Facebook post on Wednesday.

“The leader took the chicken to his heart and filed a police complaint invoking Section 504 of the IPC as (to him) the words of the journalist amounted to intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace. In hindsight, nobody breached peace except the hartal mongers.” Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan of the Congress on Thursday said: “The attempt to hunt down John is a clear example of how autocratic governments fear the media.”

He added: “This is not just about an individual named Vinu V. John. He is a journalist. A media person is being booked and summoned to the police station only because he criticised the government. And these are the people who talk about media freedom.”

John had at the panel discussion, which he hosted, made several strong comments against the statewide shutdown by trade unions on March 28 and 29 last year.

He had asked the question directed at Kareem, who was not a participant in the discussion, in reference to a reported comment by the CPM leader playing down the attack on auto driver Yasser.