TIRUCHY: A Tiruchy-based NGO actively working for gender equality and children’s development in the southern districts has alleged they were manhandled and abused by Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) cadres at Ilaiyangudi in Sivaganga district a couple of weeks ago.
The NGO had been conducting a survey of Muslim women about domestic rights. Though an FIR has been registered at Ilaiyangudi Police Station, NGO members claimed the perpetrators are yet to be arrested and had been posting derogatory material about the NGO workers on social media platforms.
Addressing a press meet in Tiruchy on Wednesday, A Kamila, Director of the Women’s Integrated National Development Trust (WIND), said members for her PhD thesis on ‘Perception on Muslim Women Rights’ had been surveying the Muslim families in Alavudeen Street of Ilayangudi on June 29. As WIND members had been handing out questionnaires on domestic violence the women face, SDPI cadres led by a one Khalid snatched away the papers from the NGO members after confining them and allegedly assaulted Kamila, who had rushed to the spot to rescue her co-workers.
Kamila said, “Since SDPI members could not bear us creating awareness among Muslim women about their rights, we were manhandled and abused.”
The victims claimed the perpetrators were yet to be arrested as police allegedly feared a backlash from other pro-Muslim political parties. “Since the accused men belonging to SDPI were not arrested, they are distributing pamphlets in public and also putting up vicious posts on social media by branding our NGO as an agent of the RSS, which we strongly deny.
We only wanted to sensitise Muslim women about their rights,” Kamila added. The complainants said they were encouraging Muslim women in Sivaganga district to nominate themselves for the recently cancelled local body elections, which reportedly irked many of the pro-Muslim political parties in Ilaiyangudi.
The NGO said it would seek legal recourse if the police fail to arrest the accused. They also asked the SDPI high command to restrain cadres in Sivaganga from assaulting women.