The survivor in the Malayalam actor abduction and assault case has been the focus of attention ever since February this year when the news broke out. Despite being a celebrity who knew the repercussions and media attention that would follow, the survivor filed a police complaint against the men who'd subjected her to a brutal attack on February 17. Her exemplary courage has been applauded by a wide section of the public and many of her colleagues in the film industry.
However, once the police arrested actor Dileep, a powerful man in the industry, for allegedly orchestrating the attack, there have been attempts at character assassination and victim blaming in the case. Poonjar MLA PC George is one such person who has consistently made derogatory remarks and insensitive comments for some time now, against the survivor. And he's refused to check his callous remarks in spite of the intervention of the Women's Commission.
Even after the Women’s Commission took action against the MLA, he has continued to taunt the women activists and openly challenge them.
Now, the survivor has written a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, seeking his intervention in the matter.
In the letter posted in the Women in Cinema Collective Facebook page, the survivor says:
“I'd never thought I would write such a letter. But MLA PC George for the last many days has been passing derogatory remarks about me, so being the CM of our state I would like to invite your attention to this. I cannot explain the mental state I have been in for the last many months after the assault. I feel pressured by insults each moment. A common family like mine, which includes my mother and brother, could not tolerate what happened to me. But I survive out of the thought that I should not break down and should fight it out till the end.
I held on strongly to my self-confidence and courage from the next day of the assault, only because I should not fail in this agitation. If I fail, I know it will be the failure of many women like me.
An MLA belonging to the Assembly in which you are also a member said, “If she was attacked how can she act in movies the very next day.”
I had to go for a shoot the very next day which I had committed to earlier, but I did not go for it as he's claimed. I sat inside the room for one week. The director, producer and the actor in the movie constantly encouraged me to join work. It was 10 days after the incident that I went to the shooting set, for a two-day shoot.
If the support of those colleagues hadn’t been there, I would not have returned to the industry. Then how can a people’s representative speak without knowing the truth?
What do people like PC George think? I should have committed suicide? Or should I have been dumped in a mental asylum? Or should I hide myself somewhere by not appearing in public?
Can someone tell me what was the wrong I did?”
The survivor has pointed out in the letter that she works in the film industry for her livelihood and that she cannot live without those earnings.
She says in the letter that though many like her have faced similar incidents earlier, they'd kept quiet because they are scared people like PC George might "spit on their faces".
“After PC George, many prominent people came in support of the accused in the case. Women should be concerned about the public perception being created by PC George,” she says.
She also says in the letter that she is extremely worried and depressed.
She points out that the MLA taunted the Women’s Commission, who charged a case against him.
“The last time, he said in his statement: ‘are they (Women's Commission) coming to cut my nose? If they fight against me they will lose not only their nose but also something else’. He says this against an institution, which is a hope for thousands of women like me, who seek justice,” the survivor writes.
Emphasising her trust in the Kerala CM to act against MLA PC George, the survivor concludes her letter thus: “No assaulted women should be insulted in public like this. I believe in you sir."