Strip search of women employee: Kerala firm suspends three as social media vents ire

Its managing director Abdul Raheem said a lady supervisor, another assistant supervisor and a sweeper were suspended amid pending probe by police and development commissioner of the SEZ.

The issue had triggered widespread protest on social media. Cyber world has started a new agitation by asking the people to send sanitary napkins to the company.

On facebook, many persons have posted the visuals of the napkins addressed to the company managing director, registering the protest against the humiliating incident.

The reported incident had occurred at the gloves manufacturing firm on December 10.  Of the 65 employess of the company, 45 of them are women. Last week, police had registered a case against two women supervisors at the firm under section 354 of IPC (outraging a woman’s modesty) following a compliant. Women cell of the city police have started probe on Monday.

According to the complaint, after a used sanitary napkin was found in the bathroom by a sweeper, lady supervisors wanted to identify the menstruating woman who abandoned the pad at the bathroom. Employees were taken to a room and subjected to strip-search.

Sources at the company said 15 women employees stuck to the stand they were stripped one after another in a room to know whether they had used the sanitary pad. Another section among the women staff said the issue was baseless and stemmed from ego clash of a section of employees.

Raheem said there was no camera at the room where the women were taken for examination as alleged by the workers. “The incident was unfortunate and management was not involved in it,’’ he said.

Women outfits affiliated to Left parties staged a protest march to the SEZ on Wednesday.