Kerala MLA booked for rape, forced abortion

THe Kerala law on fri engaged suspended u.s. Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil on charges of dishonor, forced abortion, grievous hurt and issuing verbal threats among other offences a day after a woman submitted a complaint to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, officials said.The FIR was registered at the Valiamala police station and later transferred to Nemom station, where the crime is reported to have occurred, within Thiruvananthapuram district limits, an officer said on condition of anonymity.“A special team will be formed to probe the case under the leadership of Thiruvananthapuram City police commissioner Thomson Jose. The complainant’s statement with regard to the case has been recorded,” the officer said.The woman, accompanied by a family member, had met CM Vijayan at his office at the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. The complaint was handed over to the state police chief and fast-tracked, keeping in mind the serious nature of offences and the position of the accused.According to the FIR, the accused MLA raped the woman multiple times under the pretext of marriage, recorded videos on his phone and blackmailed her using the videos. He is also accused of procuring medicines illegally and forcing the woman to consume them to terminate her pregnancy as he watched via a video-call. Joby Thomas, an acquaintance of the MLA, has been named as the second accused for delivering the medicines to the woman.The offences charged against the Palakkad MLA are non-bailable and carry sentences ranging from 10 years in jail to lifetime imprisonment.In an audio clip released by a TV network on Thursday, the complainant was purportedly heard saying that she was in an ‘extremely bad physical condition’ following the abortion and that she suffered bleeding. She is heard saying that the MLA watched on a video-call as she was forced to take the medicine to abort the pregnancy.The audio clip has not been verified by the police.Meanwhile, the police issued a lookout notice against the Palakkad MLA after he was unreachable on phone and in person. While he was present in his constituency, campaigning in the local body polls, till Thursday evening, he went missing soon after reports of the complainant meeting the CM.Mamkootathil moved the Thiruvananthapuram Sessions Court on Friday with an anticipatory bail petition. In his plea, the MLA has said that the case is part of a ‘political conspiracy to tarnish his image.’He also alleges that the complainant recorded his calls and videos and released them to the media without filing a police complaint, resulting in a media trial. He has also rejected allegations that he pressurised her to terminate her pregnancy. The court is expected to hear the bail petition on Monday.The Palakkad MLA was suspended from the primary membership of the Congress in August this year after allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women and sending obscene messages were made against him. Actor Rini Ann George was the first to raise allegations against the MLA, without naming him. Subsequently, audio clips surfaced on social media platforms in which a male voice resembling the MLA could be heard pressurising a woman to abort her baby.The MLA was forced to resign from the post of the president of the state Youth Congress unit in August. On Thursday, before he went missing, the MLA had posted on Facebook, “As long as I know that I have not done any wrong, I will fight legally. Everything will be proved in the court of justice and the court of people. Truth will win.”