MYSURU: Primary and secondary education minister
Tanveer Sait apologised to
Shivendra Urs,
a Mysuru-based stringer for The Times of India, on Tuesday for the
inappropriate behaviour of his men. On Monday, his supporters had manhandled the journalist and confined him to a house for some time.
In a statement, Sait said his supporters did not act in a proper manner and he has asked them to behave decently with the public and media. He issued a letter of apology to Urs . The minister admitted a party worker had behaved inappropriately with the scribe and he said it could be because of recent political incidents. The incident unfolded after Urs could not produce an ID card as he wasn’t carrying one. Claiming that some vested interests are using a section of the media to harm his reputation ahead of the polls, Sait said when he heard about the incident, he intervened and rescued the journalist.
Journalists in Mysuru protested the manhandling incident. They gathered in front of Mysuru Law Courts and sought action. They wore black armbands to protest against Sait and his supporters who roughed up the scribe while he was covering the minister on his campaign in Gayathripuram, part of Narasimharaja assembly constituency. Sait is the Congress candidate from the constituency.
The protest received support from writers and advocates. It was led by Mysuru District Journalist Association president CK Mahendra, who said, “This is not the first incident of a journalist being manhandled by political parties.’’ He added that last week, BJP activists had roughed up a local cameraman and grabbed his video camera.
