Panaji: Police summon photographers for clicking President’s pictures

PTI

Panaji, 05 January 2011: Goa police today summoned three photo-journalists for clicking pictures of President Pratibha Patil on a beach here and recorded their statements.

 

Police say that since the President is on a private visit, picture-taking was not allowed but it’s action has angered the photo-journalists here. The pictures of Patil sitting on the beach were carried by newspapers here which apparently irked the state police.

 

Deputy Superintendent of Police Umesh Gaonkar said that taking pictures of the President was strictly prohibited as she was on a private visit. The state-level union of photojournalists, however, said that this was harassment.

 

"The photo-journalists were just doing their job. They were nowhere near the President. The pictures were taken with 400 mm zoom lenses," Rajtilak Naik, President, Photo-journalists’ Association of Goa (PJAG) told PTI.

 

Three photo-journalists, Ganadeep Sheldekar (The Navhind Times), Soiru Komarpant (Gomantak Times) and Arvind Tengse (a freelancer) were called by police and their statements as to how and why they clicked the pictures were recorded. However, no case has been registered.

 

The President arrived in Goa on January 3 and will be leaving the state tomorrow. DSP Gaonkar said that earlier the photo-journalists had been specifically asked to remain away from the President.

 

"We summoned them as we just wanted to know how far they were from the President," he added.