Kottayam: Under siege for his offensive comments against an actress who was sexually assaulted by a gang of goons, P.C. George MLA took to social media on Wednesday to hit back at his critics.
The Poonjar legislator said that he did not intend to take lessons on women’s modesty, in an apparent barb against dubbing artist Bhagyalakshmi, who lashed out at him for the “cruel statements” made during a press conference in Alappuzha.
George, who had repeatedly challenged the police version in the case and even sought to cast aspersions on the victim, hit the headlines on Monday when he asked how the actress could go to work two days after the attack if she had been tortured as the police claimed to.
The Women in Cinema Collective sought legal action against George for his “irresponsible and misogynistic” comments. The women artistes said that the legislator’s outbursts may be part of a conspiracy to help the accused. One of the members of the collective, playback singer Sayanora, was particularly harsh on George. She wrote on Facebook that the legislator was taking pride in his loose tongue.
George wrote on his Facebook page that he did not intend to take lessons on women’s modesty at this age. He said that he interacted with thousands of families as a people’s representative. He had enough experience as a father, father-in-law, grandfather and husband to respect a woman.
He said that he was only pointing out a possible lacunae in the police report presented in the court. “It was reported that the police said that the actress was tortured more cruelly than Nirbhaya, who was raped to death by five or six men in Delhi... If that report is correct, it is a lapse from the part of the police. The people will naturally doubt how the actress could go to work the next day,” he said.
He also took objection to Bhagyalakshmi’s retort that George may not understand anything about a woman’s honor because he was a gunslinger who grew up amid the riches of rubber and cardamom plantations.
“True, I happened to have born into a planter family. I have seen guns, rubber, cardamom and enough money. The people in my surroundings and my family had no other means of livelihood apart from farming. Not everyone could work in the cinema as an actor or dubbing artiste,” he wrote.
He also replied to Sayanora without naming her. “A child has advised me to read the FIR before commenting on the case. She has only seen the police from a distance and heard about them. I know them from close quarters as a people’s representative.... That is the reason I am skeptical about police reports and media reports.”
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