A photograph of President Pratibha Patil on the Goa beach surrounded by bikini-clad women and men in swimming trunks carried in newspapers today has angered officials here who summoned three photo journalists and questioned them. Police called three local photo-journalists,who had shot Patil's pictures on the beach,and recorded their statements. Since the President is on a private visit,picture-taking was not allowed,police said. Deputy Superintendent of Police Umesh Gaonkar said that taking pictures of the President was strictly prohibited as she was on a private visit. But the police action has angered the photo-journalists here. The state-level union of photojournalists called it 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) said. 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.
