The LDF Government in Kerala and the State Commission for Women (SCW) have refused to intervene in the issue pertaining to the charge that PK Sasi, MLA of the CPI(M) from Shoranur, Palakkad, had tried to sexually abuse a woman leader of the party’s youth outfit, DYFI. The Opposition termed the attitude of the Government and SCW as proof of double standard in the dispensation of justice under Marxist rule.
“There is nothing for the Government to do in this,” said Industries Minister and CPI(M) central committee member EP Jayarajan, considered as the man who speaks for the LDF Government in the absence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, by pointing out that the young woman had lodged her complaint against Sasi with the CPI(M) leadership and not with the police.
“There is no situation that warrants suo moto initiation of a case by the commission,” was how Women’s Commission chairperson MC Josephine, also a member of the CPI(M)’s central committee, reacted when asked whether the commission would intervene in the issue. “We can register a case only if we get a complaint. We have not got any complaint,” she said.
Though the CPI(M) leadership had received the young woman’s complaint against Sasi on August 14, it has not bothered to hand it over to the police or to demand an explanation from the legislator so far.
The young woman, a member of the DYFI’s Palakkad district committee, has not lodged any complaint with the police.
State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has already made it clear that the party would not report the matter to the police by saying, “This is a complaint that has been lodged with the party. The CPI(M) knows how to handle a complaint it receives. If it was a complaint for the police, (the woman) would have lodged it with them.”
In her complaint, the DYFI leader had accused Sasi, also a member of the CPI(M)’s district committee and district secretariat in Palakkad, of trying to abuse her sexually at the party’s Mannarkad area committee office. She also charged him with continuing the harassment for over a year and with making lewd remarks to her over the phone.
The young woman had lodged her complaint three weeks ago with party Politbureau member Brinda Karat, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and some prominent leaders in the party’s State secretariat. As there was no action, she e-mailed complaint on Monday to general secretary Sitaram Yechury, who has publicly acknowledged its receipt.
Without diverging from the party line, Minister Jayarajan told the media, “If you ask me about the complaint, I would say you should ask that girl… This is a matter the CPI(M) is handling and the Government cannot intervene in party affairs. No such issue has come up before me as a Minister or MLA,” the Minister said.
SCW chief Josephine was equally firm on the matter. “The commission can interfere only if the victim petitions us or if she brings the issue publicly to the notice of the society. She has not done either of these. The commission and the CPI(M) are two different entities. The CPI(M) has its own system of dealing with such matters,” Josephine said.
Slamming the approach of the Government and the SCW to the issue, State Congress president MM Hassan said, “The stand that the CPI(M) would examine the sex abuse charge against its MLA and not the police is proof of the existence of two kinds of justice under Marxist rule. The CPI(M) is trying to convert its party offices into police stations.”
Women’s rights activists slammed Josephine for the commission’s refusal to help the victim. “The Women’s Commission is not a CPI(M) family forum. Josephine cannot misinterpret the commission’s procedures, norms and precedents in order to protect her partymen accused of sexual offence against women,” said a senior leader of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha.
Senior Congress leader Bindu Krishna said, “It is high time the Women’s Commission had been dissolved. To say that the commission cannot initiate a case against a sexual offender is equivalent to humiliating the victim further. Josephine cannot say and act in this way while she is heading the commission which is using public funds for functioning.”
Meanwhile, State police chief DGP Loknath Behera handed over to the Inspector General of Police (Thrissur range) the complaints he had received from two organizations against Sasi for preliminary examination. As the complaints lacked several crucial details of the issue, the police would carry out a proper investigation only after ascertaining the facts of the matter.
At the same time, protests raged across the State demanding the arrest and resignation of the Marxist legislator. The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha took out a protest march to the house of the MLA in Mannarkad on Wednesday demanding action against him. However, the police blocked the demonstration about 100 metres away from the house.