Union Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran has said that the views aired by Congress leader and Member of Parliament K. Sudhakaran on the Suryanelli rape victim are personal and not the official stance of the Congress.
Speaking to reporters here on Monday, Mr. Ramachandran said there was no point in Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Ramesh Chennithala saying that he was not aware of Mr. Sudhakaran’s statement. The KPCC chief should speak up whenever necessary and should not keep mum on critical issues at crucial junctures. It is the responsibility of Mr. Chennithala as KPCC president to make the party’s stance clear when a situation arises. “Keeping mum at junctures like this would do no good to the party,” he said.
Stating that there are no two opinions in the party on the need to enact a stringent law to check the increasing acts of violence against women, Mr. Ramachandran said the party, as a single unit, is trying to get the law passed as early as possible.
Mr. Ramachandran, who maintained that the Union government had not received any official confirmation regarding any serious threat of Maoists in any parts of the State, said that States including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, however, have been directed to keep a close vigil of the situation and take necessarily action then and there if any such confirmation is made. There is no denying the fact that Kerala is home to certain Left extremist groups, but no outfit has been able to make any significant inroads into the State, Mr. Ramachandran said.
Kerala is not an exception for Political Obscurantism which is more
prevalent in the contemporary political standoffs connected with the
domestic issues patronized by certain leaders like Sudhakaran who will
always air views without knowing what is stand of the party he
represents! Ironically the so called Obscurantism is deep in the
mindset of some MPs and M.L.As and the Party cash their perverted
stance by prompting them to show their language in situations while
the party finds that facts are too harsh and reality too unfriendly!
Kerala flaunts the slogan- ‘God’s Own Country’; The God alone can save
the people of Kerala!
I would like to mention the famous quote of Nora Ephorn, the Academy
Award Winner for Original Screenplay for films – ‘Silkwood’, ‘When
harry Met Sally’ and ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ – “Insane people are
always sure that they are fine. It is only the sane people who are
willing to admit that they are crazy.”
R.Basant's orientation was good but the verdict did cause injustice to
the minor victim who had remonstrated against illegal custody and rape
by many 42 men within 45 days long back in 1996 against her wishes.
Factually the lawyer- Dharmarajan, himself had raped her prior to his
becoming as her custodian by keeping her in locked rooms at Tourist
Bungalows at different locations.
Nobody will accept the ‘few disturbing thoughts ‘highlighted by
R.Basant in notes under the HC bench verdict, about the age limit for
consensual sex by minors above age-16 but below 18, as a sign of
empathy to Suryanelli victim when he failed to size up the depth of
misery undergone by the victim by forcibly surrendering to unknown men
for many number days after being cheated by her lover. In fact she was
enticed, threatened, abducted and sexually exploited by him, a bus
conductor prior to transferring her to two other persons, a lady pimp
and the lawyer lobbyist in the region.
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