By IANS,
Shillong : A Congress legislator in Meghalaya Tuesday apologised for assaulting a photojournalist inside the assembly premises, after a photo of him sleeping in the house was snapped.
Founder Strong Cajee, who holds the rank of a parliamentary secretary in the Congress-led government, had roughed up photo-journalist Walton Lytan in anger over the photo.
“The incident was unfortunate. I feel sorry for what happened yesterday (Monday). Whatever happened has happened and it shall never happen again,” Cajee said while tendering his apology to the House.
Cajee’s apology came after Leader of Opposition Conrad K. Sangma, of the Nationalist Congress Party, urged Speaker Charles Pyngrope to take action against the Congress legislator for violating the sanctity of the house.
The incident, the legislator said, occurred after the photo-journalist abused him and used provocative language. However, Lytan who is recuperating in Shillong Civil Hospital denied using any such language.
The speaker, meanwhile, expressed hope that the matter would be settled between the legislator and the photo-journalist.
“Since the member (Cajee) has tendered his apology, we hope this matter will be settled soon. However, we (Assembly) have no jurisdiction on FIR and we will not interfere into it,” Pyngrope said.
Meanwhile, police have started a probe into the incident based on the FIRs lodged by Shillong Press Club and Cajee.