PALAKKAD: The Kerala Police filed a complaint against Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil on Wednesday for allegedly stalking and harassing women on social media. This is a big step forward. Just a few hours after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in public that all legal steps will be taken against the lawmaker, this happened.
The Crime Branch of the police filed the case after getting direct orders from state DGP Ravada A. Chandrasekhar. The State Police Media Center said in a statement that the complaints the DGP got were about cognizable violations, which led to the filing of a FIR.
The FIR has been filed under a number of important sections, such as Sections 78(2) (stalking) and 351 (criminal intimidation) of the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 120(o) of the Kerala Police Act. This part of the Kerala Police Act talks about bothering someone by sending them calls, messages, or emails over and over again. C. Binukumar, the Deputy Superintendent of Police for the Crime Branch in Thiruvananthapuram Range, would be in charge of the inquiry.
There have been a number of public charges against Mamkootathil that led to the case against him. The trouble started when Malayalam actress Rini Ann George said a young political leader had acted badly. This made opposing parties angry and led to riots. After that, a few other women and a transgender person came out with similar claims.
Mamkootathil recently stepped down as the Youth Congress state president because things were becoming worse. He stated he did this to keep the party from getting distracted by the dispute. He was also being looked at by his own party. After audio samples of a supposed conversation between the MLA and a woman came to light, the Congress party also kicked him out of its main membership.
The Kerala police’s decision to do this is a fresh and official step in the probe into the severe claims that have already caused the legislator to leave his party and resign from a critical post.