Party acts as court & police station: Josephine

Thiruvananthapuram: State women’s commission chairperson M C Josephine on Friday kicked up a controversy by stating that her party, CPM, was a court as well as police station.
She made this remarks while responding to questions regarding the party’s practice of conducting internal inquiries in sexual-abuse cases against their leaders, when she visited the Kadinamkulam gang-rape survivor.
The questions were related to the party’s action against MLA P K Sasi following sexual harassment allegations raised by a DYFI leader over a year ago.
Elaborating on her statement, Josephine said it was the complainant’s discretion to choose the agency to file her complaint. She had faith in the party and hence chose an inquiry by the party.
She also cited examples of commission registering cases against MLAs S Rajendran and C K Hareendran to contradict the allegations that women’s commission seldom acted against CPM party leaders. She also cited the example of her public response against party convener A Vijayaraghavan, who made derogatory comments against UDF’s Ramya Haridas during election campaign.
BJP state president K Surendran termed Josephine’s statement as a mockery towards the legal system of the country. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala criticised Josephine and said she lost all moral right to continue as women’s commission chairperson. Both have demanded her resignation.