Kerala MLA Rahul Mamkootathil booked for sexually abusing woman

The Congress had suspended Mamkootathil from its primary membership in August and removed him from the post of Youth Congress president, following multiple allegations of misconduct from women. The scandal threatens to shadow the Congress amidst the local body elections slated for December 9 and 11. However, Mamkootathil has been active in campaigning for party candidates in local bodies under his Palakkad Assembly constituency.

The issue took a sudden twist a few days ago after a TV channel telecast the social media chats and audio clips allegedly attributed to Mamkootathil and a woman in which the MLA was heard threatening the woman to undergo miscarriage. In the leaked out social media chat, the legislator was seen soliciting the woman for sexual intercourse expressing his intention to have a baby.

On Friday, the Valiyamala police, under the Thiruvananthapuram rural district, filed the First Information Report (FIR) against Mamkootathil and handed over the case to Nemom police station for further proceedings. Apart from Rahul, the FIR has also named his friend Joby Joseph, who allegedly supplied abortion pills to the woman at the behest of the MLA without proper prescription.

Police sources said Mamkootathil was booked under Section 64 (rape), and Section 89 (forcing a woman to undergo miscarriage) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 64 E (capturing nudity of a person without consent) of the Information Technology Act.

Soon after TV channels flashed the news about the woman meeting the Chief Minister, Mamkootathil, who was campaigning for Congress candidates in Palakkad, closed his MLA office on Thursday and remained incommunicado. In a social media post, the MLA said he would resort to legal remedy.

Let law take its own course: Congress

The Congress on Friday questioned the timing of the case. Congress state president Sunny Joseph said “let the law takes its own course. When the issue came up, we had suspended him from the party. There is nothing new in this matter,’’ he said.

Senior Congress MP and United Democratic Front (UDF) convener Adoor Prakash said, “At the time of every election, CPI(M) will find fabricated cases. If he is found guilty in the matter, the party will take appropriate action.’’

The CPI(M) and BJP have sought the arrest of Mamkootathil in the wake of registering the FIR. In August when the scandal emerged, the police had registered criminal cases against Mamkootathil on charges of stalking and repeatedly causing annoyance to women. However, these cases were registered based on complaints from political workers and hence the police could not proceed further for want of complaints from victims.