Rehana Fathima (Source: Facebook/Rehana Fathima Pyarijaan Sulaiman/പാത്തൂസ്)
Police have booked women’s rights activist Rehana Fathima after she uploaded on social media a video of her two children painting on her semi-naked body. Uploading the visuals, Fathima, 33, stated on her Facebook page that women wearing a mere dress are not safe in a sexually frustrated society. The woman’s body should be shown and what is sexuality should be openly stated. That should begin at home to bring in changes in society, she wrote.
Following a complaint by BJP leader A V Arun Prakash of Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district, police registered a non-bailable case against Fathima.
The state commission for protection of child rights also sought criminal action against her. State Commission for Protection of Child Rights member K Nazir said should be booked under relevant sections of POCSO Act. Since the video has been widely circulated in social media, police should also take action to remove the visuals, he said.
Police have been asked to file a report within ten days, Nazir said.
This is not the first time Fathima has run into controversy. In 2018, she was in the news after attempting to visit the Sabarimala hill shrine after the Supreme Court lifted the age bar on the entry of women. Following uproar over her attempt, she was suspended from her job at BSNL on charges of hurting religious sentiments and was recently terminated from employment over the same. In 2014, Fathima had participated in the Kiss of Love campaign in Kerala against moral policing.