Kerala PCC president Mullappally Ramachandran has triggered a controversy with his remark on rape victims.
Addressing a protest of Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala on Sunday, Ramachandran said that a woman with self-respect who gets raped would either end her life or would try to prevent such incident in future. "But a woman here is stating that the entire system raped her and the ruling left-front in Kerala is using her to deviate attention from the serious allegations against the government," he said.
Ramachandran's statement came in the backdrop of a fresh rape allegation raised against a Congress leader by a cheating case accused woman. The same woman had earlier raised rape allegations against many senior Congress leaders.
With Ramachandran's statement triggering criticisms of insulting womanhood, he tendered an apology at the same event itself.
Kerala social justice minister K K Shailaja and Kerala Women's Commission chairperson M C Josephine flayed Ramachandran's statement. Josephine said that the commission would take action against him.
Ramachandran, who was a former union minister of state for home affairs, had courted controversy in June after he had stated that state health minister K K Shailaja was trying to earn publicity over Covid-19. "She earned the title of NIPAH princess just by playing a guest actor's role in the fight against NIPAH and she was trying to get C ovid-19 Queen title," he had stated.