COIMBATORE: Kavundampalayam TVK MLA Kanimozhi Senthosh has once again landed in controversy after her supporters claimed she was solely responsible for rescuing and admitting to a home a 32-year-old woman with an intellectual disability who was allegedly sexually harassed by a minor boy near Thudiyalur in Coimbatore last week.
The victim was assaulted while sitting on a roadside platform near NGGO colony, where a minor boy sexually harassed her under the influence of alcohol, and stray dogs later chased him away. The matter came to light when local police reviewed CCTV footage in the area while investigating another crime.
Aside from legal proceedings, members of the local branch of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) reportedly attempted to have her admitted to a shelter for her safety, with the MLA providing a recommendation letter. Currently, both TVK and SDPI members claim they were the ones responsible for the effort.
A week after the incident, supporters of Kavundampalayam TVK MLA Kanimozhi circulated a message on social media on Friday claiming that the woman was safely admitted to a private home through the MLA's efforts. On the flip side, the claim has drawn criticism from the locals, as they claimed that the woman was admitted to a home through efforts of the locals affiliated with SDPI. Meanwhile, they met reporters on Friday and told them the same.
"The victim has her own house, but no one was there to take care of her. So we consulted with her relatives and decided to admit her in a government home at Mettupalayam, where her elder sister is also staying. To make the process easy, we obtained a recommendation letter from the MLA. But it did not work, and the authorities at the home denied admission, citing her condition.
Then we admitted her to another private home, which charges `3,000 a month. We did not make a show of any of this. However, some people from the MLA's office contacted us and obtained photographs of the woman's admission at the home and attempted to mine publicity out of them, claiming that the MLA was solely responsible for her rescue," said M Ameer Abbas, an SDPI functionary.
He added that the recommendation letter issued from the MLA's office was not used and no one considered it. "When it was wrongly projected for political gain, we were put in a position to explain it," he added. TVK's Union Secretary V Nithin, who reportedly obtained the letter from the MLA, said the document recommended the police and victim's relatives to make the process easier.