The Kerala government on Wednesday accepted a report submitted by the judicial commission that was investigating allegations of sexual harassment against former Kerala minister AK Saseendran.
The state government had set up the Justice PS Antony Commission in March after a Malayalam television channel released an audio clip, in which a man can purportedly be heard speaking inappropriately with a woman. The channel had claimed that it was Saseendran’s voice in the clip.
In its 405-page report submitted to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday, the panel had recommended that the licence of the Mangalam channel be cancelled. The report had also called for the prosecution of the chief executive of the channel.
Addressing journalists in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday morning, Vijayan said the channel had aired the audio clip to boost its rating. “It was a criminal conspiracy,” he said. “We will forward the recommendation to the Centre.” He said he had directed the director general of police to investigate the conspiracy.
The chief minister said that Saseendran, who was the lone Nationalist Congress Party minister in the Kerala Cabinet and had resigned after the channel aired the audio clip, could now return to the Cabinet as the commission didn’t find him guilty. “But his Nationalist Congress Party has to take a decision,” Vijayan added.
After Saseendran stepped down, Nationalist Congress Party MLA Thomas Chandy was sworn in to his post. Chandy, too, resigned on November 15 after the Kerala High Court criticised him for his decision to challenge the Alappuzha district collector’s report that found him violating land rules to build a luxury lake resort.
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