Congress demands disbanding of Kerala Women’s Commission

Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress on Thursday demanded that the Kerala State Women’s Commission (KSWC) be disbanded as it is of no use even to a lady party worker, who was allegedly sexually abused by a CPI-M legislator.

State Congress President M.M. Hassan in a statement issued here said that while the National Women’s Commission (NWC) has suo motu started proceedings based on the allegation, the state commission is silent on it.

While the state commission has acted so swiftly in certain cases including registering suo motu cases for posting comments on social media, in this particular instance they say no case can be taken, he said

“If this commission is not good enough for their own party lady, then it’s better this be disbanded,” Hassan added.

Earlier this week, a CPI-M woman youth leader complained to the party’s central committee against Shornur legislator P.K. Sasi, after her complaint to the state leadership was not taken up.

The youth leader had also complained to politburo member Brinda Karat, who also failed to act.

The state unit took up the case only after party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday directed it to look into the matter.

While the NWC on Wednesday announced that they have started legal steps against the allegation, M.C. Josephine, Chairperson of KSWC, said that no case can be registered against the legislator as there is no complaint.

Meanwhile, to stem the opposition pointing fingers at CPI-M, party’s state secretariat is meeting here on Friday to discuss the matter.

The Congress has been after CPI-M veteran V.S. Achuthanandan who has always spoken for atrocities against women. On Thursday the CPI-M leader told the media that “these things have to be studied before commenting”.

Sasi, who has called this a conspiracy against him, on Friday will meet his party committee at the lower levels to discuss the issue, which till now was kept under wraps.

[source_without_link]IANS[/source_without_link]