Actor Swetha Menon told the media here on Saturday evening that she would formally lodge a complaint with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy regarding her experience in Kollam in which she said she felt degraded as a woman.
She said there was no going back on her complaint and was saddened by the response of the Kollam Collector to it.
‘No complaint received’
Staff Reporter writes from Kottayam: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said here on Saturday that Ms. Menon was yet to submit a complaint regarding alleged physical misbehaviour with her at the launch of a boat race in Kollam on Friday.
Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a function here, Mr. Chandy said the issue would be probed if the actor submitted a complaint.
Minister for Home Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan also shared the same views when he spoke to mediapersons later at the venue.
‘Felt degraded’
Staff Reporter writes from Kochi: Asked about the Kollam District Collector’s statement that he had not received any complaint from the actor, Ms. Menon said she had personally taken up the matter with the Collector at the venue. The Collector had even apologised for the turn of events. He might have retracted after the incident snowballed into a controversy after it was taken up by the media, she said.
Ms. Menon said she had told the Collector about the humiliation she had to suffer. But she did not give a written complaint. “As a woman, I feel degraded,” she said.
She was talking to mediapersons at her flat in the city in the morning. Ms. Menon was along with her husband, Sreevalsan. The actor, however, declined to answer a question on whether she was sure that the politician accused was the person responsible for the incident. Ms. Menon said she did not react at the venue out of respect for the event.