A video of a Congress leader assaulting an old woman who objected to the erection of an inscribed slab in front of her house, has been doing the rounds on social media.
The road in the area had been widened recently and the slab was being put there for its inauguration.
The video posted by Prasheed PS who works in the media, shows Krishnamma, 72, coming out of her house and asking the workers to stop putting the slab close to her compound wall. After this, the Congress leader is seen engaging in a heated argument with the woman, during which he snatches part of her clothes while restraining her. He can be seen dragging the woman inside the gate of her house and then proceeds to lock it from outside.
The Congress leader was identified as Rajeev, a local leader of Aruvikkara in Thiruvananthapuram. Aruvikkara MLA KS Sabarinadhan was also questioned by social media as Rajeev was his close aid.
Prasheed, in his Facebook post, says that Rajeev was a local goonda and he has criminal cases against him.
“People are asking why the person who shot the video did not stop this assault. It is because they were scared of this goonda. At least the person showed the courage to shoot the video,” Prasheed says.
The video also shows a few people who had gathered while the incident was playing out but did not intervene.
However, later when the issue became a controversy, the slab was placed on the opposite side of Krishnamma’s house and it was inaugurated by minister G Sudhakaran.
Later, Sabrinadhan visited Krishnamma and apologised for the misbehaviour from his party worker. The MLA also said in Facebook post that Rajeev was Krishnamma’s close relative.
“I am deeply sad about the unfortunate incident which happened to a mother of my constituency. I have met her. I apologise for the bad behaviour of the party worker who is also a close relative of the mother. Nobody especially a woman should not face such a situation. We have taken action against the party worker,” the MLA wrote.
Sabarinadhan also shared a picture of him meeting Krishnamma.