Kerala: Women Activists Physically Thrash YouTuber and Chief Minister Supports Them

A dubbing artiste and two other women barged into the residence of a Kerala YouTuber, beat him up and elicited an apology on live video, before seizing his laptop and handing it over to the cops.

One day after the episode in Thiruvananthapuram, artiste Bhagyalakshmi, and activists Sreelakshmi Arakkal and Diya Sana, Sunday won the strong backing of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Health and Social Justice Minister K K Shailaja, as well as a wide section of civil society.

Bearing the brunt of the women’s fury was YouTuber Vijay P Nair, known to upload videos with derogatory and sexually explicit comments on his channel. He was slapped, doused with motor oil and made to apologise on a Facebook Live video. Source: IE

While proper action should be taken against people who use vulgarity or make derogatory remarks on anyone, within the purview of freedom of speech, it is not a symbol of a developed society that people should take law in their own hands and openly thrash people they do not like. What is further shameful in this incident is that even the Chief Minister of the state has given support to the women activists who took the law in their own hand and used violence means to make their point; when the case is already in Police. This is Kerala's shame. 

Covid-19 patient raped by ambulance driver in Kerala

A coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patient was allegedly sexually assaulted by an ambulance driver in central Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district on the way to a hospital on Saturday night, officials said.

Police said the suspect was arrested within hours of the crime, which has triggered an outrage and a political bickering in the Left-ruled state.

Two women from a family tested Covid-19 positive on Saturday evening and they were taken to a health facility in an ambulance, police said. There were no family members in the vehicle in accordance with protocols laid down by the Kerala government.

While one of them was admitted to a dedicated Covid-19 facility, authorities advised the ambulance driver to take the second woman to another hospital --- just around 4km away.

But the driver took a detour and drove about 18km. On the way, he stopped the ambulance at a desolate place and raped the 22-year-old patient inside the vehicle, police said.

The driver threatened the woman with dire consequences if she spoke up. The woman told doctors about the incident upon being admitted to a hospital. Later, a medical examination confirmed the sexual assault.

State health and family welfare minister KK Shailaja called the incident “inhuman” and said “it should not have been happened”.

Police found that the 29-year-old suspect was involved in several criminal cases in the past, including a murder attempt.

Source: HT