THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Women’s Commission on Wednesday directed the state police chief to take action against those involved in installing flex boards against women journalists. Terming the incident serious, commission chairperson K C Rosakutty said that relevant provisions of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act should be invoked against the culprits. She was speaking after the mega adalat conducted by the panel on Wednesday. Flex boards were installed near the Secretariat in the name of a lawyers’ group, displaying the photographs of women journalists, after the recent assault at Vanchiyoor involving a group of lawyers.
“I received the complaint from journalists when the commission was planning to take suo motu case in that regard. I have discussed the issue with the government,” she said. The commission said it would see the possibilities of withdrawing the counter petition filed by advocates against journalists, if reasons were unfounded. “Journalism is a medium through which the public get information on the rule of the law. The government has conveyed that it views the issue seriously that a part of justice delivery is opposing the fourth estate,” she said. After the issue was raised in the Assembly, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that he had forwarded the complaints of women journalists to the DGP. Four journalists, including a TNIE reporter, had filed a police case against a group of advocates who assaulted them at the Vanchiyoor court on October 14.
The advocates who were arrested and later released on bail filed a counter case against the journalists. The Women’s Commission chairperson said that elderly women were the most victimised in the state. “The commission conducts seminars including all stakeholders to highlight this issue. We also take note of media reports and encourage anonymous letters to help bring justice to these mothers,” she said. According to her, the functioning of Jagratha Samithis, introduced to prevent crimes against women, was not effective. The previous government had made amendments to the Panchayati Raj Act. But it hae not yet been passed in the Assembly.