THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : M C Josephine, 74, one of the prominent woman leaders of the CPM, died at a hospital in Kannur on Sunday. The former chairperson of Kerala Women’s Commission and CPM central committee member, Josephine collapsed at the CPM party congress venue in Kannur on Saturday after suffering a heart attack. She was rushed to the AKG Hospital in Kannur where she breathed her last on Sunday afternoon.
Josephine served as the chairperson of the Kerala Women’s Commission from 2017 to 2021. She was also the former chairperson of Greater Cochin Development Authority and the Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation.
Josephine was a councillor in Angamaly municipality for 13 years. She had contested unsuccessfully to the Lok Sabha from Idukki constituency in 1989 and to the legislative assembly from Angamaly in 1987, Mattanchery in 2006 and Kochi in 2011. She had also served as national vice-president and state president of All India Democratic Women’s Association.
The woman leader landed in controversies on many occasions and one of them cost her the post of Women’s Commission chairperson. With just nine months of her tenure remaining, she was forced to quit the post following a controversy over her insensitive remarks to a victim of domestic violence during a live television phone-in programme.
In 2018, when a CPM MLA was accused of sexual abuse by a female DYFI member, Josephine had remarked that the CPM had its mechanism to handle such complaints, triggering an outrage. The top leadership of the CPM, who were in Kannur for the party congress, paid their last respects at the hospital. The body was taken to Angamaly in a procession accompanied by party workers. As per Josephine’s wish, the body will be handed over to Government Medical College Hospital, Kalamassery, on Monday, for medical education purposes.