THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a shocking revelation, a Ph.D student has come out with a Me Too accusation against the newly elected state secretary of the ‘Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangam’ an offshoot organisation of the CPM. The incident reportedly happened when she was a minor. She has alleged that A Gokulendran, one of the secretaries of the organisation, had on multiple times made sexually coloured moves and touched her inappropriately.
Trembling with the shock and unable to control her emotions even after twelve years, the survivor told TNIE that ,"Even now when I hear about the incidents of sexual violences happening to somebody, I lock my door, panicked, unable to do anything else. I become insane when I hear about such news. I am afraid even now. I have not come out of the trauma. I was a minor when this happened to me. I was literally a child,” she said.
The incident reportedly occurred between 2009 and 2011-12, when she was her teens, between the ages of 14 and 17 years. “My first poetry book was published in 2008 when I was just 14 years old. I used to actively participate in the programmes organized by Library Council and Pu.Ka.Sa. I had no particular inclination towards any kind of political ideology. However, after my father’s demise, Gokulendran who was an office bearer of Pu. Ka. Sa and Bookmark, would put his hand on my shoulder in the name of love and affection. On one trip, I felt his hand was on my body. He had no qualm in putting his hands on someone else’s body".
“On another occasion, when I was reciting a poem, there was a sentence ‘they left my heart even though they had stolen all that was precious to me’. Gokulendran then asked me whether I had lost anything valuable. I did not understand the meaning of that. On another occasion he came near me and started to talk about Sara Joseph, the writer. He told me that women are hesitant to write about a woman's body and reluctant to write the word breast. He said this amidst a crowd in a low voice. I did not have the courage to talk about it to anyone. I stopped attending camps".
"Once I had to visit his book stall as I had not told anyone about the ordeal. Then out of fear I went there with my younger sister. Even then he said that if my sister was not with me he would have given sex related books to me. After this I completely stopped attending public functions”, she said.
The survivor had written about the incident on social media on 2021 February 25. However, the Pu.Ka.Sa set up an informal committee to investigate the accusation comprising Sulekha, AG Oleena and PN Sarasamma, all the state committee members. They had reported in the next state committee without even contacting the survivor that the incident had caused damage to the organisation. “We were asked to inquire about the damage caused to the organisation. There was no other mandate. And it was also just a verbal instruction”, a committee member told TNIE on condition of anonymity. Even though Gokulendran was kept aside from all posts for a brief period, the organisation elected as one of the secretaries in the state conference held in August last week in Kannur.
“The issue of accusation against Gokulendran does not arise as a serious issue” Pu.Ka.Sa general secretary KP Mohanan told TNIE. “It has not come to us as a petition or news report. If it arises as an issue we would inquire”, he said. When asked why the committee failed to take the statement of the survivor, Mohanan said that it was an informal committee and they could not locate the survivor.