The Congress in Kerala, the State Government it heads and the bureaucracy it controls are being accused of a bid to protect Congress MP N Peethambara Kurup who had allegedly harassed award-winning filmstar Swetha Menon during the President’s Trophy Boat Race in Kollam on Friday at which she was the chief guest.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, the Kollam District Collector and the Kerala State Commission for Women said that they had not received any complaint from Swetha when the laws concerning sexual harassment enabled the enforcement agencies to initiate cases suo moto in such circumstances.
The Kollam Police also tried to justify its inaction on the ground that they had not received any complaint but they, in the context of intense protests, decided by late Saturday evening to send a team headed by a woman Sub-Inspector to Kochi to record Swetha’s statement on the basis of a complaint filed by pro-CPI(M) youth outfit DYFI.
According to Swetha, who had reached Kollam from Mumbai specifically for the programme, she was harassed right from the moment she got out of the car till she left the programme venue by “an elected representative”. She did not name the person who tried to outrage her modesty but said that everything was obvious in the video clippings the TV channels had telecast.
The video footages suggested that it was Peethambara Kurup who had harassed her during the programme but Kurup held a Press conference to claim that the allegation was wrong. “These allegations are entirely false. I will prove it. There should be a proper probe into this. I myself was pained by what she had to face in Kollam,” he said.
Swetha Menon had on Friday night itself said that she had complained - though not in writing - about the matter to the Kollam District Collector, who had invited her to the programme.
However, on Saturday, he repeatedly denied having received any complaint from the cine star. “I stand by what I said yesterday,” Swetha reiterated on Saturday.
“I had personally told the Collector everything as it was he who had invited me. But now it seems that he is feigning ignorance after the incident was reported in the media. It does pain me a lot,” Swetha said. “What shocked me was the brazenness (of the harassment). If this could happen to me what safety do ordinary girls have hereIJ” she asked.
There are also allegations to the effect that the authorities had made no security arrangements for Swetha even when she was participating in such a crowded programme. There was not even a single woman police officer to escort her. Famous Malayalam-Tamil cine actor Kalabhavan Mani also had participated in the function.
KC Rosakutty, chairperson of the Kerala State Commission for Women, said action would be taken if any complaint was received but panel member lissie Jose said the commission should initiate legal action suo moto. State Congress general secretary Padmaja Venugopal said she did not want to believe that Peethambara Kurup would commit such an act.
The Opposition lDF, its constituent parties and their feeder organisations in Kerala are up in arms against the harassment Kurup allegedly meted out to Swetha. Pro-CPI(M) youth outfit DYFI and AIYF, the youth forum of the CPI, took out protest marches to the office of the Congress MP in Kollam and burned his effigies.
Terming the alleged act of Kurup as heinous, Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan, known as the symbol of Kerala’s war against woman-harassers, said that the Government should have by this time taken action against the Congress MP on the basis of the law passed by Parliament recently.
That no such action had been taken was a matter of concern, he added.