HYDERABAD: The Editors Guild of India (EGI) urged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to ensure that the media can operate in a free and unfettered manner in Telangana.

The EGI requested the chief minister to direct officers to follow due process and exercise restraint in dealing with the media.

In a statement issued here, the EGI said that it condemns the haste with which two journalists affiliated with the news channel NTV were arrested, allegedly for spreading fake news.

The news channel, in a gossip programme, had claimed that a woman IAS officer was transferred due to her alleged proximity to a minister, the EGI said and added that no names were mentioned in the report.

The IAS and IPS Officers Association of Telangana met and issued a statement demanding action against NTV.

Promptly, a case of criminal defamation was filed against the journalists and NTV editors, the EGI said.

In a midnight raid, the journalists were arrested and kept in a lock up till they were released on bail by the courts.

It is interesting to note that the police acted on a complaint filed by the Secretary of the Telangana IAS Officers’ Association and not the unknown lady officer who had been allegedly defamed, the EGI pointed out.

The midnight raids and arrests were unwarranted in what were bailable offences, the EGI said.