Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Tuesday sparked a row after patting a senior woman journalist on cheek at the end of his press conference at Raj Bhawan.
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.
DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi responded to the incident and tweeted, “Even if the intention is above suspicion, a person, who holds a public office has to understand that there is a decorum to it and violating a woman journalist’s personal space does not reflect the dignity or the respect which should be shown to any human being.”
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.
“I do not know the lady… I am above politics. Strict action will be taken if someone is found guilty. We will get to know only after an inquiry,” Governor Purohit had told reporters on Tuesday.