Journalists in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday sought an apology from state Governor Banwarilal Purohit after he sparked a row by patting a senior woman journalist on her cheek when she asked him a question.
In the letter demanding justice, the journalists wrote, “Mr Governor, we, the journalists of Tamil Nadu, demand that you offer an unconditional apology to the journalist in question and also assure all journalists of Tamil Nadu that you will not violate their rights in the future.”
Purohit on Tuesday triggered a controversy after patting a senior woman journalist on cheek at the end of his press conference at Raj Bhawan.
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The press conference was called in the wake of allegations linking Purohit to a controversy surrounding a professor arrested in the ‘sex for degrees’ case.
The woman journalist has claimed that when she asked Purohit a question during the presser, he ‘patronisingly’ patted her on the cheek as a reply.
She tweeted: “I asked TN Governor Banwarlilal Purohit a question as his press conference was ending. He decided to patronisingly — and without consent — pat me on the cheek as a reply.”
“Washed my face several times. Still not able to get rid of it. So agitated and angered Mr Governor Banwarilal Purohit. It might be an act of appreciation by you and grandfatherly attitude. But to me you are wrong,” she said in another tweet.
Meanwhile, Purohit has denied having any link with Nirmala Devi (the assistant professor of a Virudhunagar college) who has been arrested for allegedly asking students to give sexual favours to officials of the Madurai Kamaraj University. According to media reports, Nirmala Devi had claimed she knows the Governor.