Police report confirms harassment charge against former minister

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Kochi, Jun 25 (UNI) The preliminary investigation by Inspector General (IG) of Police B Sandhya into harassment charges against the then Kerala PWD Minister P J Joseph confirms that he misbehaved with a co-passenger aboard a Kingfisher flight last year.

The report, which was obtained by a local advocate here under the Right to Information Act, says that ''from the statements of the victim, the alleged perpetrator and the witness and also from the physical examination of the scene, it can be prima facie concluded as follows - Mrs Lakshmi Gopakumar was travelling on seat No.8A of Kingfisher Flight from Chennai to Kochi on August three, 2006, evening. Mr P J Joseph, Minister for PWD, was also travelling in the same flight and his allotted seat was 17-A. But, he sat on seat No.9A just behind Mrs Lakshmi Gopakumar.

''When the flight took off, visibility condition in the cabin was poor. At that time, Mr P J Joseph extended his left hand through the left side gap of the seat in front and touched the body of Mrs Lakshmi Gopakumar in such a manner that he outraged her modesty.'' According to the report, a shocked Mrs Gopakumar screamed and summoned the airhostess for a change of seat. The airhostess changed her seat to the rear end. She also filled up a complaint form and handed over the same to to the airhostess before the flight landed.

The report mentions that initially Mrs Gopakumar was reluctant to give a complaint in writing as she was scared about the consequences.

It further says ''Mrs Lakshmi Gopakumar hails from a respactable background and nothing adverse could be noticed about her conduct.

It is learned that that after the incident she did not pursue the matter. However, by August 19, a large number of media personnel started asking her and her husband about the incident and the incident came to the notice of the public. Prima facie there is no conspiracy by the victim with anybody as far as the incident is concerned.'' The report conludes by saying ''it may be true that the matter was brought into limelight with stories by some interest groups'' The government had not published the report earlier and an application under the Right to Information Act was submitted by Mr D B Binu, a lawyer from Ernakulam.

When the authorities did not comply with the Information Officer's direction to furnish a copy of the report, the latter initiated contempt action against the officials concerned.

The government then approached the Kerala high court and submitted that it will furnish the information to the applicant. A copy of the report was then furnished to the lawyer, who made it public here today.

UNI

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