THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after the women’s commission registered a case on the child missing complaint filed by former SFI leader Anupama S Chandran, CPM district secretary Anavoor Nagappan, on Friday, admitted that the party’s district unit knew about the whole murky episode.
Nagappan said he never took steps against the interest of Anupama and her child, but only advised her father and local CPM leader Peroorkada Jayachandran to return the child to his daughter. Once he was told that the child was whisked away, he then advised Anupama to take legal recourse to get her baby, he claimed.
However, Anupama and her husband Ajith said that Nagappan had changed his statement. When they had met Nagappan and sought his help after police refused to probe the complaint, he had shouted at them. “He neither offered to help nor asked us to take legal recourse,” Anupama said.
Meanwhile, women and child welfare minister Veena George sought a comprehensive departmental report on the complaint that the baby was forcibly taken away from the mother by her parents and given for adoption with the help of child welfare committee (CWC) and child welfare council.
“A woman in distress needn't file a formal complaint while seeking justice and help. Even a WhatsApp message is enough to conduct an enquiry and provide relief,” George said when the excuses cited by CWC were brought to her notice.
Anupama, Ajith repeated their complaint on Friday that Peroorkada police refused to register a case under the influence of political leadership. It is alleged that her parents took away the baby that was born before Ajith and Anupama were married. Anupama had given birth to a boy at a private hospital on Oct 19, 2020.
Meanwhile, opposition leader VD Satheesan and BJP state president K Surendran expressed shock over police apathy in this incident.
“I don’t want to mix politics... It’s shocking that even leaders of student and youth wing organisations of CPM were denied justice. The mother and child should be reunited. We can’t let the party police and party court decide cases,” Satheesan said.
Surendran said the women’s commission and CWC were working against the interest of stakeholders. “The silence of cultural leaders and women activists over the incident is dubious,” he added.
