With news about a bus driver of Kallada Travels attempting to molest a woman passenger, coming out on Thursday, the Kerala Women’s Commission within hours took a suo motu case in the incident.
The case has been taken on the direction of Women’s Commission chairperson MC Josephine.
A reserve driver of one of the buses of Kallada Travels that was commuting between Kannur to Kollam, tried to molest a woman passenger in the wee hours of Thursday.
The Commission has also decided to summon Suresh Kallada, the owner of Kallada Travels to the Commission headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, seeking an explanation from him about the incident.
In the statement released by the Women’s Commission on Thursday, it said that the issue was being considered very seriously.
“The Commission will check the facilities that Kallada Travels provides to ensure safe travel for women,” stated MC Josephine in an official release. It also stated that the Commission had received complaints about Kallada bus staff not halting the vehicle in between trips even for primary needs like using toilets.
Kerala police nabbed the reserve driver Johnson Joseph, a native of Kottayam, on the complaint of the woman who hails from Tamil Nadu. When the woman created ruckus after this alleged incident, other passengers in the bus got hold of the man and handed him over to the police. Police took him into custody and registered arrest later.
The arrest has been made under section 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code.
Meanwhile, as per reports, DYFI (Democratic Youth Federation of India), youth wing of CPI(M) conducted protest march to offices of Kallada Travels at various places. In Thiruvananthapuram, Kallada offices have been attacked in which CCTV cameras and office windows were reportedly destroyed.