Lucknow, Sep 10 - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has come under fire from media persons and the opposition for slapping the Dalit Act on reporters of a national TV channel for a news report on how a starving Dalit sold off his wife in the poverty-hit Bundelkhand region of the state.

The Uttar Pradesh Accredited Press Correspondents Committee has vehemently condemned the government's move to haul the IBN-7 channel and its scribes over the stringent provisions of the Dalit Act.

Samajwadi Party president and former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav termed the move as draconian and anti-democratic.

'What the TV channel reported was harsh reality and the media must have the freedom to show the truth in a democracy,' Mulayam Singh told reporters here.