Meeting with the NOW! staff and representatives from Press Club of Sikkim at the NOW! office here this morning, Mr. Bhutia accepted that being the area MLA of the place from where the perpetrators hailed, he took moral responsibility for the incident and regretted that a candidate he had cleared as a panchayat ward candidate of the party indulged in something which went against the ideology and principles of the party.
“If they were not satisfied with any news-report, they should have discussed the matter with the editor and sorted it out, but they chose the wrong way. Vandalizing the NOW! office was wrong,” said Mr Bhutia.
The Minister further informed that not only he, but other senior office bearers of the party were also disturbed by the incident and that the party’s disciplinary committee headed by former Minister KN Rai, the accused in connection with the attack and belonging to the SDF party have been expelled. An official confirmation in this regard has however not come from the SDF party yet.
Reiterating that those involved in the attack should be strictly dealt with by the law, he also assured, as demanded by the journalists, that neither he nor any of his associates in the party will interfere in the due process of law or try to compromise the investigation or prosecution.
As for reports that his PA [reported in some papers as CA] had tried to seek bail for the accused, Mr. Bhutia clarified that the name mentioned in media-reports as his PA/ CA was not officially attached with him in any capacity and was acting in his private capacity and not representing him or the party in the present context.
An attack on the fourth estate is most unfortunate, the Minister reiterated in conclusion and assured that such an act will not repeat in the future.
