The Thalassery police on Tuesday filed a case for abetment of suicide against Thalassery MLA AN Shamseer and DYFI leader PP Divya in connection with the suicide attempt of one of the Dalit sisters who were arrestedon Saturday.
Both Shamseer and Divya had reportedly hurled a string of accusations against the sisters while participating in two different debates that were aired on regional news channels on Saturday night.
Akhila and her sister Anjana had supposedly barged into the CPI(M) office to question the continued harassment of their father using casteist slurs, and were later arrested for allegedly attacking a CPI(M) party worker in this regard.
Though the sisters were given bail the same day, the issue snowballed into a huge controversy as Akhilaa had her one-and-a-half-year-old baby with her when the duo was sent to jail.
After reaching home, Anjana later attempted to commit suicide that night. On Sunday, Akhila and her father N Rajan had told The News Minute that Anjana attempted to commit suicide because of the trauma caused by accusations hurled at them by DYFI leader PP Divya on a popular TV debate that was aired on Saturday. .
MLA AN Shamseer also received flak after his statements on Dalits in another television debate the same day started off and ended on the wrong foot.
In a heated argument with Dalit activist Mrudula Devi on air, he termed the sisters as a “public nuisance”. According to an IndianExpress report, her relatives claimed that Shamseer’s statements had also contributed in driving Anjana to attempt suicide.
Commenting on the incident, P Girija -director of National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes- said that injustice had indeed been meted out to the family. The state commission however maintained that it was not the harsh words used by the CPI(M) leaders but the trauma of having had to go to jail that must have forced Anjana to try and resort to such an extreme step.
The Chairperson of the State Commission also recorded the statements of both the sisters and their family members and informed the media that it had received statements against CPI(M) members.