Journalists letter to TN Governor on his ‘attempt to touch a lady’
Full text of letter written by nearly 200 journalists to Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit expressing “great shock” at “harassment of senior journalist by your esteemed self”
A group of nearly 200 journalists have written a letter to Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Wednesday, expressing “great shock” at “harassment of senior journalist by your esteemed self”. The full text of the letter is reproduced below:
To
Shri Banwarilal Purohit
The Governor of Tamil Nadu
Raj Bhavan, Chennai-600 002
From,
The journalists of Tamil Nadu
Respected Sir,
Subject: Harassment of senior journalist by your esteemed self
It is with great shock that we write this letter to you. As the Constitutional head of our State of Tamil Nadu, you have crossed lines of not just basic courtesy but also those of the law.
Your action today in touching the cheek of a senior lady lady reporter who asked you a question at the press meet was patronising at best and a violation of her rights as a woman at worst. She was there since you had called for a press meet and simply discharging her duty as a journalist.
We do not wish to question your motives on this gesture, considering that it is appalling that you should choose to do such a thing at a press meet that you addressed on the case of a professor allegedly luring students to sexual encounters with her seniors and who claimed to know you.
It, however, does not behove the Constitutional head of a State to throw basic courtesy and respect to the winds and attempt to touch a lady without her consent, even if the gesture may have been ‘paternal’ in nature.
We would like to draw your attention to Section 2 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 1998, which defines ‘harassment’.
“Harassment” means any indecent conduct or act by a man which causes or is likely to cause intimidation, fear, shame or embarrassment, including abusing or causing hurt or nuisance or assault or use of force.
We would also urge you to read this along with Section 4 of the same Act which is reproduced below for your kind perusal.
“Whoever commits or participates or abets harassment of women in or within the precincts of any educational institution, temple or place of worship, bus stop, road, railway station, cinema theatre, park, beach, place of festival, public service vehicle or vessel or any other place shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with a fine, which shall not be less than Rs.10,000.”
The offence is cognisable and non-bailable as your esteemed staff will point out.
Mr Governor, we the journalists of Tamil Nadu and India 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.
Thanking you.
Sincerely,
Journalists undersigned
1. Sandhya Ravishankar, Independent Journalist, Chennai
2. Priyamvadha P, India Today TV, Delhi
3. Ramesh, Puthiya Thalaimurai, Chennai
4. Gokul, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
5. Suman, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
6. Ramachandran, Thanthi TV, Chennai
7. Satheesh, News18 Tamil Nad, Chennai
8. John Britto, Dina Thanthi, Chennai
9. Saradha, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
10. Mathiyazhagan, News7, Chennai
11. Sadaiyandi, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
12. Dhayanandhan, News7, Chennai
13. Lavanya, News7, Chennai
14. Priyanka Thirumurthy, The News Minute, Chennai
15. Sundar, Dinamalar, Chennai
16. ETB Sivapriyan, Deccan Herald, Chennai
17. Anbuselvan, Sun News, Chennai
18. Manoj Prabakar, Puthiya Thalaimurai, Chennai
19. Arun, Makkal TV, Chennai
20. Sam Pradeep, Sathiyam TV, Chennai
21. Jayachandran, Cauvery News, Chennai
22. Rejimon Kuttappan, Independent journalist, Trivandrum
23. Sreshtha Tiwari, Chennai
24. Manikandan, Win News, Chennai
25. CV Anumod, Asianet News, Chennai
26. Sharmila, Sun News, Chennai
27. Shabbir Ahmed, Times Now, Chennai
28. Mohammed Imranullah S, Chennai
29. Lalitha Ranjani, The New Indian Express, Madurai
30. Subramanian, Puthiya Thalaimurai, Chennai
31. Mugilan, NewsX, Chennai
32. Shalini Lobo, India Today TV, Chennai
33. V Lokpria, NewsX, Chennai
34. R Subash Prabhu, Puthiya Thalaimurai, Chennai
35. Muthukrishnan, Polimer TV, Chennai
36. Gunalan, Sun TV, Chennai
37. S Manikandan, CMPC, Chennai
38. Haseef, CMPC, Chennai
39. Vishnu, CMPC, Chennai
40. Tamilarasan, CMPC & Kalaignar TV, Chennai
41. Jayabathuri, Sun TV, Chennai
42. Priya, Sathiyam TV, Chennai
43. Nithiyanathan, Sathiyam TV, Chennai
44. Arun, News7, Chennai
45. Devendiran, News7, Chennai
46. Velmurugan, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
47. M Sathish, Thanthi TV, Chennai
48. Arunmozhivarman, Puthiya Thalaimurai, Chennai
49. RK Jagadeesh, Kalaignar TV, Chennai
50. Sivaraman, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
51. Searma Samy, FX16 TV, Chennai
52. R Jeyalakshmi, The New Indian Express, Madurai
53. Gokul Vannan, Freelance journalist, Madurai
54. Mohan, Makkal TV, Chennai
55. Anand, Makkal TV, Chennai
56. K Rajasekar, IBC Tamil, Chennai
57. Pramod Madhav, Mirror Now, Chennai
58. Rajkumar, Puthiya Thalaimurai, Chennai
59. Kabish Balakrishnan, Redpix, Chennai
60. Ponmanaselvan S, Puthiya Thalaimurai, Chennai
61. Ratheesh Chodon, Manorama News, Chennai
62. Dharani Thangavelu, Mint, Chennai
63. Loganathan, Thanthi TV, Chennai
64. Shankar Jayaraman, Kalaignar TV, Chennai
65. K Sasikumar, Thanthi TV, Chennai
66. Arun Manickam, Sun News, Chennai
67. Suganthi, Sun News, Chennai
68. Dhanya Rajendran, The News Minute, Bengaluru
69. Ramanathan Subramaniam, The News Minute, Bengaluru
70. Anna Isaac, The News Minute, Bengaluru
71. Manasa Rao, The News Minute
72. Anjana Shekar, The News Minute
73. Arun Janardhanan, The Indian Express, Chennai
74. Ramanujam K, Madurai
75. J Santhosh, The New Indian Express, Chennai
76. Lalith Jude, Raj TV, Chennai
77. Nandini, Maalai Murasu TV, Chennai
78. Raymond Kharmujai
79. Geeta Seshu, Independent journalist, Mumbai (NWMI representative)
80. Neeta Kolhatkar, journalist, Mumbai
81. Bharani Vaitheeswaran, Chennai
82. Ashaly P Joy, Chennai
83. VP Raghu, DT Next, Chennai
84. J Shanmuga Sundaram, The Times of India, Chennai
85. Poornima Murali, Chennai
86. Abinaya, Puthiya Thalaimurai, Chennai
87. Sibinathan, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
88. Shiva, Sathiyam TV, Chennai
89. Shilpa Nair, Times Now, Chennai
90. Vignesh S, Puthiya Thalaimurai, Chennai
91. Mariappan, Vendhar TV, Chennai
92. Guna, Malai Murasu TV, Chennai
93. Gayathri, Raj TV, Chennai
94. Senthil, Jaya TV, Chennai
95. Sharda Ugra, journalist, Bengaluru
96. Anandakumar, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
97. Kamaraj, News7, Chennai
98. Sindhu Kannan, Times of India, Chennai
99. Saravanakumar, Polimer TV, Chennai
100. A Subburaj, Times of India, Chennai
101. Sathish, Captain TV, Chennai
102. Aarthi, Puthiya Thalaimurai, Chennai
103. Thaiyumanavan, Thanthi TV, Chennai
104. Veeramani P, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
105. Dinakar, NTV, Chennai
106. Shyam Balasubramanian, Zee News.com, Delhi
107. Rajeshwari Ganesan, freelance journalist, Delhi
108. Thanigai, BW, Chennai
109. Vinithaa, Sun News, Chennai
110. L Srikrishna, The Hindu, Madurai
111. Priyan, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
112. S Sundar, The Hindu, Madurai
113. Pon Vasanth, The Hindu, Madurai
114. Sanjana, The Hindu, Madurai
115. Tilak Chandar, The Hindu, Madurai
116. Walter Scott, The Hindu, Madurai
117. K Raju, The Hindu, Madurai
118. P Sudakar, The Hindu, Madurai
119. Praveen Paul Joseph, The Hindu, Madurai
120. Vidyashree Dharmaraj, Coimbatore
121. Ramaselvaraj, Sun News, Chennai
122. Anbuselvan, Sun News, Chennai
123. Krishna, Sun News, Chennai
124. Selvakumar, Sun News, Chennai
125. Prabakaran, Sun News, Chennai
126. Saravanan, Sun News, Chennai
127. Geethan, Sun News, Chennai
128. KK Suresh Kumar, Mathrubhumi
129. Prasanth Kanathur, Mathrubhumi
130. Sunish Jacob Mathew, Mathrubhumi
131. Sinduja Jane, The New Indian Express
132. Ameer Hamza, Dinamalar
133. A Shadik Batcha, The Hindu Tamil
134. R Sivakumar, The New Indian Express
135. Vivek Narayanan, The Hindu
136. Naomi N, News Today, Chennai
137. Harasankaran, The Statesman
138. Vinodh Arulappan, The New Indian Express, Madurai
139. Pandiaraj, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
140. Amala Rajendran, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
141. Ramakrishna, Cauvery News, Chennai
142. Meenakshi Sundaram, Dinamalar, Chennai
143. Tamilarasi, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
144. Smitha, The Quint, Chennai
145. Karthik, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
146. Nowshath, Sathiyam TV, Chennai
147. Neppolian, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
148. Sirumalar, Cauvery News, Chennai
149. Bhuvaneshwari, Chennai
150. Rosamma Thomas, journalist, Jaipur
151. Ritesh Uttamchandani, freelance journalist, Mumbai
152. M Karthik, Raj TV, Chennai
153. MJ Pandey, journalist, Mumbai
154. A Joseph, Coimbatore
155. Mageshwari, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
156. S Vivek, Thanthi TV, Chennai
157. Parth Satam, Fauji India, Mumbai
158. Sabari, Cauvery News, Chennai
159. Sanjay Gundla, Sakshi TV, Chennai
160. Prakash D, Nakkheeran, Chennai
161. R Aathithan, Dinamani
162. K Murugesh, Maalai Murasu TV, Coimbatore
163. R Senthill Kumar, Sun News, Chennai
164. A Selvaraj, Times of India, Chennai
165. Srikanth Dasarathy, Times of India, Chennai
166. Ram Sundaram, Times of India, Chennai
167. Ekatha Ann John, Times of India, Chennai
168. Siddharth Prabhakar, Times of India, Chennai
169. Pradeep, Times of India, Chennai
170. V Ayyappan, Times of India, Chennai
171. Oppili, Times of India, Chennai
172. Abdullah, Times of India, Chennai
173. Tejon, Times of India, Chennai
174. Shruthi Suresh, Times of India, Chennai
175. Sureshkumar, Times of India, Chennai
176. Yogesh, Times of India, Chennai
177. Pushpa Narayan, Times of India, Chennai
178. BR Naresh, Puthiya Thalaimurai, Chennai
179. Deepan, Captain TV, Chennai
180. Murali Krishnan, Win News
181. Darwin Geo, News7, Delhi
182. Valliappan, NBA
183. Subash Chandra Bose, News7, Chennai
184. Dushyant, journalist, Delhi
185. VM Subbaiah, Chennai
186. Jayanthi, The New Indian Express
187. Tamil Nadu Penn Oodakaviyalargal Maiyam
188. Berlin Moses, News18 Tamil Nadu, Chennai
189. Suresh, NNIS, Chennai
190. Anand Kumar, freelance journalist, Chennai
191. Sruthisagar Yamunan, Scroll.in
192. Jeeva Bharathi, Nakkheeran, Chennai
193. Arulgabriel, Raj TV, Chennai
194. Mugavaishiva, Dinamani
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