Responding to CPI(M) Kerala Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s statement on the alleged sexual abuse case against his elder son, Binoy Kodiyeri, Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala said that Kodiyeri and the party cannot get away by terming it “a personal issue”.
At a time when the Left has not yet come out from the massive failure it faced in the recent Lok Sabha election, CPI(M) has landed in a controversy with party’s state chief’s son Binoy being booked by the Mumbai police in a rape complaint. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan made his first public response in the issue on Saturday saying that neither he nor the party supported his son.
“CPI(M) and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan cannot get away by saying that the allegation against his son is personal and that they have no role in it,” Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said in his Facebook post.
“People have the right to know the truth. Therefore, an impartial and comprehensive investigation is required in the case. If there is some truth in what the victim has said, justice should be ensured to her,” Chennithala said.
He also added that CPI(M)’s degeneration is reflecting in such incidents.
“The party’s [CPI(M)] approach is to whitewash everything. In recent days, it has been noted that CPI(M) themselves probe and close the sexual assault allegations being raised from within the party. It is the party itself that is abetting such crimes, and this particular incident, which has come out now, is a continuation of that,” states Chennithala.
He also added that CPI(M)’s response in the issue shows that they have not learnt any lesson from the party’s failure in the recently held Lok Sabha election.
On June 13, a Mumbai-based woman from Bihar filed a rape complaint against Binoy Kodiyeri at Mumbai’s Oshiwara police station. In the complaint, she has alleged that Binoy raped her for a year after promising to marry her. She also claims that she has an eight-year-old child from their relationship and that she was not aware that he was already married.
Mumbai’s Oshiwara police filed an FIR against Binoy under Sections 376 (rape) and Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code. Although the Mumbai police team reached Kerala to probe the rape complaint, Binoy Kodiyeri had absconded by then and remains untraceable. Meanwhile, a court in Mumbai will hear Binoy Kodiyeri's anticipatory bail plea on Monday.
After the case made headlines and the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF government started getting a lot of flak, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on Saturday said that it was Binoy’s individual responsibility to prove the truth, and not the party’s. He also added that no one should commit any crime thinking the party or its leaders would give him/her protection.