THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala State Women's Commission on Sunday dismissed the allegation that its chairperson MC Josephine had scolded a man for enquiring about the complaint filed by his 89-year-old relative.
In a statement, the Commission Public Relations Officer said the intention behind Josephine's remark was that she wanted to know whether the person, who had placed the call, had brought the matter to the attention of the 'jagrata samitis'.
"In each ward, there are samitis chaired by ward members. Since there was lack of clarity in the communication with the one who had called, the chairperson thought it was a new complaint. She was checking as to whether steps such as bringing the matter before the attention of local MLAs were taken," the communique read.
The statement said 89-year-old Lakshmikutty Amma had filed a complaint with the Commission on March 10, 2020. She was given a notice informing that the complaint will be considered in the adalath on January 28, 2021. Her son Narayanan Pillai also gave a complaint on February 6, 2020 and he was asked to appear for the adalat on December 18, 2020.
However, both of them failed to turn up nor inform the matter via phone. "Though the Commission only accept complaints filed by women, Narayanan Pillai’s complaint was accepted considering the seriousness of the matter and the age of the woman. The same complaint was filed with the police and they had registered a case on the incident," the statement said.
The PRO said that since the case was being pursued by the Commission and the police, there was no necessity to rang up the chairperson.