The Kerala Police have registered a case against Mathrubhumi TV news anchor Venu Balakrishnan for allegedly promoting communal enmity during a prime time news debate, The Indian Express reported on Friday.

The case was registered based on two complaints, one of which was filed by a a local leader of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, the youth wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Kollam City Police Commissioner Arul B Krishna said the police registered the case after obtaining legal opinion. “We know this is a sensitive issue as there are chances to construe the case as against freedom of press,” Krishna said.

The state prosecution chief reported that the alleged comments violated Indian Penal Code sections criminalising promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, Krishna added.

According to the police, during his news show on June 7 Balakrishnan made a reference to the alleged torture of a Muslim youth named Usman. “Muslim brethren, you are observing the Ramzan fast even without swallowing saliva,” the news anchor allegedly said. “The chief minister has disgraced you with such a stain. It is a state where a person, who has gone to break fast, was served with jail.’’

Balakrishnan was referring to Pinarayi Vijayan’s claims that Usman – a resident of Aluva in Ernakulam district – had assaulted a policeman on June 5, and burnt a bus from Tamil Nadu in Ernakulam in 2005 during a protest against the arrest of People’s Democratic Party chairman Abdul Nazir Madhani. Madhani was then an accused in the Coimbatore blast case.

Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala accused the chief minister of attempting to emulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi by silencing the media. “This [case registered against Balakrishnan] is nothing but an act to gag the media and to take on all those who criticise the government,” The News Minute quoted Chennithala as saying. “What is most surprising is that police decided to act based on a complaint from a worker of the CPI(M)’s youth wing.”