The Judicial First Class Magistrate, Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday issued arrest warrant to A A Rahim, the newly elected Rajya Sabha member of the CPI(M) and 13 party activists on charges of molesting and abusing a lady professor of the University of Kerala.
The arrest warrant was issued following the refusal of Rahim and his comrades to present themselves available before the Court despite repeated summons. The charges against the MP and others is that they abused, molested and verbally attacked Prof T Vijayalakshmi, director, students services who is also the head of the Internatioal Organisation for Tamil Malayalam Cultural Research on 2017, March 30.
Rahim and his colleagues were annoyed with Prof Vijayalakshmi for her insistence that the students submit the vouchers and bills of Rs 23 lakh they have availed from the fund belonging to students services account. But Rahim and his colleagues refused to submit the bills and threatened the professor with dire consequences if she does not toe the line of the party.
With Dr Vijayalakshmi refusing to yield to their demand, Rahim and friends numbering around 30 persons gheraoed the woman professor and abused her using the filthiest language. “Though I speak Tamil, I have the basic knowledge to identify obscene words. They not only used obscene languages, but assaulted me py bulling my hair and stabbing me with pens and pencils. That’s why I filed a complaint with the police chief,†said Dr Vijayalakshmi.
Though the CPI(M) led government tried to save the students andapproached the court with a request to withdraw the case, Prof Vijayalakshmi stood her ground and said that she wanted to go ahead with he case. Meanwhile Rahim, party ideologue and a popular TV star, was elected as MP from Kerala Legislative Assembly last month.
Quality of student politics has deteriorated in Kerala as students often stage demonstrations against teachers who do not tow their political line. Teachers are frightened because the students remain aggressive and fearsome.
The CPI(M) led students’ politics had staged shocking protest marches all over Kerala against teachers who do not subscribe to the Marxist ideology. In 2016, students of Government Victoria College in Palakkad witnessed a massive grave being laid for Surasu, principal, on the day of her retirement from service. Similarly, activists of the SFI had burnt the chair of the principal of Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam in 2017 for asking the students to observe decorum in college campus.
