Little India Riot: Police report made against Sun TV's riot report

Singapore's High Commissioner to India Lim Thuan Kuan has written to India's Sun TV Network to ask for immediate corrections to its "erroneous" coverage of Sunday's riot in Little India. -- PHOTO: SCREEN CAPTURE FROM YOUTUBE
Singapore's High Commissioner to India Lim Thuan Kuan has written to India's Sun TV Network to ask for immediate corrections to its "erroneous" coverage of Sunday's riot in Little India. -- PHOTO: SCREEN CAPTURE FROM YOUTUBE

A police report has been made against India's Sun TV over its new report on the riot that broke out in Little India on Sunday night.

The report said that the riot was triggered by a female bus driver who had pushed an Indian male passenger off the bus, causing his death in the process.

Sun TV reported this in its bulletin on Monday evening.

The news anchor then said in Tamil that when the other Indians at the scene saw it, they got angry and started to attack the bus driver and the bus. It added that Singaporean authorities and Chinese persons started to attack the Indians, and in the process, two vehicles were torched.

When contacted, police could only confirm that a report was made, but did not elaborate if they will be investigating.

A copy of the report seen by The Straits Times had the details of the person who lodged the report blanked out.

When The Straits Times contacted Sun TV, a man who gave his name as Mr Uma Shankar and claimed that he is the editor in charge of the news section, said he was unable to comment at this point, as he needed to check the facts with the sub-editor who had written the report.

Lawyers in Singapore whom The Straits Times spoke to said it would be difficult to take the television station to task.

Mr Ravinderpal Singh of Kalco Law said: "They are not maligning any individuals. Just reporting incorrect facts alone do not attract any legal liability."

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