THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court here on Monday issued a bailable warrant against Rajya Sabha MP AA Rahim in a case pertaining to alleged mental and physical harassment of a college professor during a protest organised by the SFI in 2017.
Complainant T Vijayalakshmi had accused the former SFI leader and 11 others of harassing her during a gherao protest at Kerala University Students’ Centre. The JFMC III Court issued the warrants after the accused failed to turn up for hearing. Rahim is listed as the first accused in the case. The then university union chairperson S Ashitha, union secretary Amal and SFI district secretary Prathin Saj Krishna were among those who were arraigned in the case.
Vijayalakshmi, who was the director of the student services, was gheraoed by the SFI activists led by Rahim for allegedly blocking the final instalment of funds for conducting the university youth festival. Viajayalakshmi’s contention was that the union office- bearers did not submit the bills of the previous instalments of fund and overturned the request to release the next slot of Rs 7 lakh. This provoked the SFI activists, who gheraoed Vijayalakshmi and Pro-VC N Veeramanikandan for about three-and-a-half hours. The incident precipitated a huge controversy after Vijayalakshmi alleged that the women SFI activists had pulled her hair, stabbed her using pens and showered abuses. The students dispersed only after making her forcibly sign the cheque, she had alleged.
The SFI leaders had refuted the allegation and said the complaint of Vijayalakshmi was false. Rahim had claimed that the false complaint was lodged against him at the insistence of then Vice-Chancellor P K Radhakrishnan. “I had highlighted the Vice-Chancellor’s discriminatory stand against Dalit members of the Syndicate. This complaint is borne out of vendetta for raising the issue repeatedly in Syndicate meetings,” Rahim had said.
The LDF government had earlier moved the court seeking to withdraw the case against the SFI leaders. However, the court turned aside the plea on the basis of an objection raised by Vijayalakshmi.