Bhubaneswar: BJD leader and Keonjhar MP Chandrani Murmu on Monday requested Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to initiate breach of privilege proceedings against Odisha Television Ltd (OTV) and its promoters for maliciously circulating a morphed and obscene video to tarnish her image.
Murmu stated in a notice that the morphed video was circulated before the 2019 general elections while the police had arrested the accused.
Referring to the action by Keonjhar Police, which picked up senior journalist Ramesh Rath of OTV on October 15 this year in connection with the viral video, Murmu said the OTV had, since then, been running several false news programmes. They have been saying that Rath was questioned since he had published a story on the Chief Minister of Odisha, while ignoring the viral video incident.
Murmu said she won’t dwell on the criminal investigation part and criminality as privilege proceedings are not meant to look into that.
“My privilege as a Member of the Lok Sabha has been grievously affected and violated. OTV has launched vicious and malicious propaganda with an ill intention to derail the investigation. I am tendering this notice to you, seeking your protection to ensure that the OTV channel is restrained from airing such fake and false stories with a malicious intent to save its reporter Ramesh Rath,” the letter stated.
