Trivandrum Press Club, a trendsetter for other Press clubs in the country, is in the news, this time for wrong reasons. Thursday evening saw the city police arresting M Radhakrishnan, a journalist who is also the secretary of the Press Club from the club premises on charges of assaulting a woman journalist.
The lady had alleged that the secretary of the Press Club physically assaulted her and barged into her residence in late hours. She also charged Radhakrishnan of moral policing.
The city police have filed a case against Radhakrishnan following the complaint from the “victim” on charges of house-trespass in order to commit offence and voluntarily causing hurt. The complainant said that Radhakrishnan was enraged over the visit to her house by one of her companions in late evenings. On November 30, Radhakrishnan had trespassed into her house questioning her over the visit by her friend at late hours and assaulted her in front of her children.
Radhakrishnan reportedly slapped the male companion and demanded that the duo apologise to the local residents for their “inappropriate behaviour” and swear not to meet again after office hours. The Press Club secretary had also collected some people before whom the entire incident happened. The lady told the police that Radhakrishnan had threatened her that he would spoil her family life if she does not obey his orders.
The Network of Women in Media staged a demonstration in front of the Press club on Thursday condemning the incident and demanding the arrest of Radhakrishnan. They described Radhakrishnan’s behaviour as a ‘malicious attempt to impose a medieval and misogynist moral code on working journalists.’ But Radhakrishnan denied all allegations. He said his intention was only to save his colleague from the “anger of the locals” who had objected to the presence of a man and woman in the residential neighbourhood at that hour of the night.
The Kerala State Women’s Commission chaired by M C Josephine, senior CPI(M) leader ordered a suo motu case against Radhakrishnan and others based on media reports about the incident. A release by the Commission said that it would also ask the City Police Commissioner to hold a thorough probe into the incident and submit his findings. Josephine said that she would find out whether all media institutions in the State have Internal Complaints Committee to examine the woes of women journalists.
This is the second incident of its kind to rock the Trivandrum Press Club. Last week saw one of the lady students of the Press Club’s Institute of Journalism complaining to the authorities that Neelan, a faculty member-cum-journalist sent obscene messages to her mobile phone. Neelan, who is the son of national award winning actor Premji for his role in the Malayalam film Piravi , has since been removed from the list of faculties, according to Press Club office bearers. This case also is being probed by the Press Club management.