ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Kerala women fight for sex scandal report

Women's organisations in Kerala are up in arms against the Committee for Welfare of Women and Children for its failure to publish the long-awaited report on the Kozhikode sex scandal.

Though the assembly panel had taken up the case following widespread complaints that the police was trying to suppress the scandal, the exercise proved futile as its term expired before it could publish the report.

Several women's organisations suspect foul play. Some of them believe that the Committee, headed by Professor Meenakshi Thampan, had not published its report because of pressure from the government and political parties.

The Kerala 'Stree Vedi', which recently waylaid the legislators near the state assembly demanding the arrest of politicians involved, suspect a collusion between the government and the opposition to save certain political bigwigs involved in the scandal.

The organisation, which has been spearheading an agitation for the arrest of all such politicians, has threatened to intensify its agitation. The Stree Vedi activists are already on a relay hunger strike before the state secretariat.

Thampan, meanwhile, has admitted that the majority of the members in the committee, belonging to both sex and cutting across party affiliations, were against publishing the report.

She, however, said there was no need for worry about the expiry of the Committee's term as the new committee, to be constituted by the government, can always call for its report, which, she said, was ready.

She refused to discuss the political dimensions of the case and the factors that forced the members to oppose the publication of the report. However, she said there was no pressure from the government or any political parties. The government had fully cooperated in the probe, she added.

The chairperson said that the inquiry by the panel had lost its relevance after the Kerala high court expressed satisfaction over the investigation by the police.

However, various women's organisations say that the assembly panel's exercise has remained as mysterious as the conduct of the police. Kerala Stree Vedi convener Aleyamma Vijayan said the Committee had obtained valuable information regarding the case. Its decision not to publish these now is a insult to the women. She said that the case has exposed the dangerous attitude of the government towards sexual crimes against women.

Besides Professor Thampan, who belongs to the Communist Party of India, the other members in the committee were K R Gouri of the JSS, Rosamma Chacko and Shobhana George of the Congress, Shailaja Teacher and N Kannan of the Communist Party of India-Marxist.

The Kozhikode sex racket had assumed political dimensions following reports that Indian Union Muslim League legislature party leader P K Kunhalikutty was involved in it. The move by the IUML to draw close to the ruling front had reinforced these report. The UDF, of which the Muslim League is a prominent partner, was also disturbed by the IUML moves.

The sex racket at Kozhikode was centred around an ice-cream parlor. A couple of ruling front politicians involved in it have already been removed from their posts. They include a former mayor of Kozhikode, belonging to the Communist Party of India.

Tell us what you think of this report