A woman named in a police complaint for allegedly abandoning her newborn on a roadside has alleged that she was raped by a youth Communist Party of India (Marxist) activist inside a party office in Kerala’s Palakkad district, PTI reported on Thursday.
In her police complaint, the woman said the incident took place in June in Cherpulassery. She said she had gone to the CPI(M) office to prepare a college magazine when the incident took place.
The police have filed a rape case against the accused and investigations are underway. However, the police said the details were found to be different in the initial investigation. “The girl got to know the guy through WhatsApp or Facebook,” said Palakkad police chief Sabu PS, according to NDTV. “And she was allegedly raped at her rented place itself, where she met the boy. There is no link to the CPM area committee office in our investigation, except that the accused man ran a garage near the area committee office. But he has no links with CPM. The girl’s family has CPI(M) connections.”
The CPI(M) said the woman was an activist of the Student Federation of India, the student wing of the party, while the accused had no connection with the party, reported The New Indian Express. A CPI(M) leader said the party will investigate if such an incident had taken place in its office.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said it was unfortunate that party offices of the CPI(M) have become “rape centres”. “I have regret in saying this,” said Chennithala. “But that is the fact. Women are unsafe in Kerala in the LDF regime.”
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