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The Kerala government on Friday, June 13, suspended senior revenue officer A Pavithran, for posting deeply obscene remarks against Ranjitha Gopakumaran Nair—a Malayali nurse who died in the tragic Air India plane crash near Ahmedabad.The Kanhangad police arrested him later, on the same day.
Pavithran, who was serving as the Deputy Tehsildar of Vellarikundu taluk in Kasaragod district, posted casteist, sexually explicit comments on his Facebook page targeting Ranjitha, in addition to mocking the pilot of the ill-fated flight.
“The pilot behaved like an auto driver. He crash-landed the flight in a place where many doctors were staying. A Nair woman from Kerala died. She got a job with the Kerala Government, took leave and went abroad, spoiling another candidate’s opportunity. I don’t feel any condolences for all,“ wrote Pavithran.
In the comment box, he allegedly posted a sexually explicit comment laced with casteist slurs,directly attacking Ranjitha’s character.
The post was deleted after it triggered widespread outrage.
Revenue Minister K Rajan confirmed Pavithran‘s suspension and strongly condemned his behaviour as “heinous”. He stated, “The junior superintendent of Vellarikundu taluk, A Pavithran, has been suspended for posting a derogatory Facebook comment about Ranjitha G Nair, who died in the plane crash. The deputy tehsildar’s action was heinous. Based on the post coming to our notice, an urgent order was issued to suspend him.”
The Kasaragod district collector has recommended Pavithran’s dismissal from service, citing repeated misconduct. Notably, this is not Pavithran’s first suspension over defamatory social media activity.
In September 2024, he was suspended for making derogatory remarks against Kanhangad MLA and former minister E Chandrasekaran on Facebook. Despite him retracting that post and apologising, disciplinary action was pursued at the time.
Pavithran has reportedly been booked under Sections 75 (sexual harassment), 79 (insulting womanhood), and 196 (promoting enmity between groups and acts prejudicial to communal harmony) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 67A (publishing sexually explicit content online) of the IT Act.
Ranjitha Gopakumaran, a nurse from Pathanamthitta working in the UK, had returned to Kerala just three days before the crash to oversee the construction of her house. She was on her way back to join work in the UK when the tragedy happened.