Kerala State Women’s Commission chairperson M.C. Josephine has complained that she has been receiving death threats and hate mails ever since she intervened in the actor abduction case.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a public hearing here on Thursday, Ms. Josephine said she had received several malicious letters and even revolting packages containing human faeces and said she planned to meet State Police Chief Loknath Behera on Friday and give a formal complaint to him.
She said the letters started coming after the commission began to investigate film personalities and some politicians who had made misogynist comments against the survivor and also those who had revealed her identity in the public realm.
Ms. Josephine pointedly dropped the name of Poonjar legislator P. C. George in connection with the malicious letters. Mr. George had been earlier involved in a war of words with the commission after he came under the ambit of its inquiry on the charge of having made disparaging comments and character statements about the actor. Mr George, currently in the U.S., was not immediately available for comment.
When contacted, the State police said they were poised to open a hate crime investigation into the matter. Senior law enforcers said singling out the commission for abuse could not be seen separate from what they perceived as organised efforts to vilify officers involved in the rape case probe.
Meanwhile, the SHRC has asked the State Police Chief to investigate Ms. Josephine’s allegation and file a report within a month. Acting chairperson P. Mohandas pointed out on Thursday that the State Women’s Commission was a legal bulwark against maltreatment of women. Civil society would not brook any attempt to demoralise the commission by targeting its members, he said.