Kerala woman alleges rape inside CPM's office

A 21-year old girl was allegedly sexually abused by a youth at a local office of CPM in Palakkad district.

The incident came to light after the girl, said to be a former SFI activist, tried to abandon the child she delivered last month.

In a bid to wriggle out of the embarrassment, that too on the eve general elections, the CPM local leadership said that they welcome a police probe into the incident.

It may be recalled that earlier also there were allegations of sexual and criminal misconduct in CPM offices in the state. Last year a woman activist of DYFI alleged of sexual misconduct by CPM MLA P Sasi of Shornur in Palakkad. Recently, the police even raided CPM district committee office in Thiruvananthapuram in search of party workers accused in a police station attack case.

The fresh incident was reported at Cherpulassery, about 40 kilometres from Palakkad town. The girl alleged that a youth, said to be party worker of the locality, befriended with her through the social media and took her to the CPM area committee office at Cherpulassery under the pretext of helping her in bringing out the college magazine last year. Later, he sexually abused her and she became pregnant.

The incident came to light after the girl abandoned the child at Mankara about 20 kilometres from Cherpulaserry on February 16. A police probe to trace the mother of the child exposed the incident. The girl was also said to be from a pro-CPM family.

The Cherpulassery police registered a case against the accused under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code for rape. The police refused to reveal the identity of the accused citing that it may affect evidence collection and efforts to nab him.

Meanwhile, Youth Congress and BJP workers staged a march to the Cherpulassery police station alleging attempt to cover up the case.

The victim and the child were shifted to a care home.