Immediately after the din over the bitterly fought elections drew to a close, Kerala’s mainstream and social media caught on to a new controversy. The bitter road rage incident involving Trivandrum City Corporation’s Mayor Arya Rajendran and a driver with the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). According to the 26-year-old Mayor, the driver was involved in rash and reckless driving and showed sexually obscene gestures against her and family while their car was passing by his bus. The mayor’s co-passengers included her husband, KM Sachin Dev, a CPI(M) legislator, her brother and his wife. The driver’s alleged misdemeanour made the Mayor and family block him by parking their car across from his bus at the zebra crossing on the busy main road at Palayam. A wordy duel ensued between the driver and the Mayor and her co-travellers. All the passengers on the bus had to disembark, and the bus was taken to the depot. The driver, HL Yadhu, dismissed all charges against him as baseless. Yadhu was taken into police custody on the Mayor’s complaint for his reckless driving and misdemeanour. Though he also filed a complaint against the Mayor and others for violating traffic rules, blocking the bus and interrupting his duty, no case was registered by the police. Later, a police case was registered against the MLA and Mayor, following the direction of a chief judicial magistrate court, based on a private petition from a lawyer.
The issue seems to bear multiple shades and layers of meaning and significance. But the media, which went to town with it, has taken a shrill and united position against the Mayor, even without having enough evidence to either prove or disprove her. The media, which usually backs the survivors of sexual harassment cases, seems united in this case in finding fault only with Arya. The driver has often been portrayed as a wounded hero and invited to hold forth on most news channels. The media constantly raised suspicions about the Mayor’s positions and picked holes in her charges. This is despite the existing law that says the evidence of a sexual assault victim is enough for the conviction of the accused. (More about the law follows). The media wasn't restrained even after a film artist revealed a similar experience she faced with the same driver earlier. Similar cases against the driver in the past also have been largely overlooked. Yadhu dismissed the charges that he is a habitual offender as orchestrated by the CPI(M). This has led to further political polarisation around the issue to ensure that the case's merit goes to the back burner. The issue expectedly caught feverish vitality and amplification on social media, which has been flooded with highly perverted comments and sexist remarks against Arya.
Why does the media target Arya in this manner despite her reasonably good record as Kerala’s youngest Mayor in history? Firstly, it could be the official privilege and political power enjoyed by the Mayor and her husband, who is a political leader and legislator to boot. In contrast, the driver has a humble background and is a temporary employee with a family to care for. The KSRTC’s removal of the driver from duty coincidentally on Universal Workers' Day at the alleged behest of the ruling party, which claims to be a working-class organisation, further dramatised the issue. So, it easily fits into a stereotype of the privileged and powerful establishment hunting down a poor and helpless underdog. A typical David and Goliath trope.
The second possible reason could be more legitimate. Even if their charges against the driver were true, what right did the Mayor and MLA have to take the law into their own hands to block a public bus carrying passengers on a busy road by even violating the traffic rules? Yadhu accused the MLA of ordering out all the bus passengers.
Though Arya dismissed the charges that her car blocked the bus on the road, CCTV footage later proved her otherwise. Arya’s accusation that the driver was drugged was also claimed to have been disproved by a test carried out by the police. The bus conductor also testified that he never saw any misdemeanour from the driver. These made the media, the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF), and the BJP intensify their tirade against the Mayor, MLA, the CPI(M), and the state government. Obviously, the events added grist to the ongoing narrative against the ruling CPI(M)’s various excesses -actual and alleged - which seems to be the third reason for the anti-Arya movement. The young Mayor's often firm positioning in favour of her party may have irked her critics, who were waiting for an opportunity.
It also jelled with the civil society’s general discontentment with the establishment and persons of privilege and power. Next came the sensational revelation by the police that the memory chip in the CC camera placed inside the bus, which would have recorded all that happened, was missing. This shrouded the issue more in mystery, endowed it with the trappings of a thriller and turned the needle of suspicion further towards the Mayor and the CPI(M). A statement by CPI(M) leader AA Rahim, ostensibly to defend the Mayor, also worked in the opposite direction. So did many others from the CPI-M who appeared on channels to defend the Mayor. All these combined to make the acts of the Mayor and MLA appear as flagrant abuse and exhibition of power and privilege. It's to be expected when the charges against the driver still remain unproven, and many of the claims made by the Mayor were proved unfounded.
Undoubtedly, the Mayor and MLA stand accused of taking the law into their own hands. That a criminal act, however grave it is or even if it is a sexual offence against women, can be questioned or punished through illegal means cannot pass legal or moral scrutiny. More so, when those who have taken the law into their own hands are important public functionaries and are responsible for protecting the rule of law. The offence became graver when there were multiple legal options for the Mayor and MLA to redress their grievances instead of the extra-legal route they resorted to.
However, can any of these absolve the media from its wrongs like holding a trial, being prejudicial, downplaying the complaint by a 26-year-old about the sexist offence against her, indulging in wanton victim-blaming and unabashed partisan journalism?
The fact that the victim/survivor/defendant in this case is a person of authority cannot be a ruse to deny her fundamental human/gender rights. Neither can an alleged offender be condoned merely on the grounds of his socio-economic status. It is clear that under the guise of defending the weak David against the mighty Goliath, what has surfaced in the media are its latent patriarchal prejudices, envy towards a young achiever, unadulterated political partisanship or sheer ignorance of the law. As per a Supreme Court judgement delivered in October 2020, a complaint by a victim or survivor of a sexual offence should be sufficient for conviction. The apex court held that even minor contradictions in her evidence should not be used to suspect or blame her. In the case related to the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in Tamil Nadu, a three-judge bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan said that a “woman who is the victim of sexual assault is not an accomplice to the crime but a victim of another person’s lust and therefore her evidence need not be tested with the same amount of suspicion as that of an accomplice”.
The issue assumes more significance when sexual offences are underreported throughout the world and more so in India because of the dominant patriarchy. In India, hardly 1% of women subjected to sexual assaults report the crime to the police. According to a National Family Health Survey, hardly 8.5% of victims report being victims of sexual violence at least once in their lifetime. Even this percentage means 27.5 million women! As per the Women Peace and Security Index 2023 released by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security, India ranks 128 out of 177 countries regarding women’s inclusion, justice, and security. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the rate of crimes against women in India increased by 12.9 per cent between 2018 and 2022. In Kerala, it rose from 15000 in 2016 to cross 19000 in 2023. Even the most recent and shocking murder of a newborn in the elite Panampilly Nagar in Kochi, allegedly by its 23-year-old, unwed mother, can also be traced to her fear of stigma in a patriarchal society.
Forget their prejudices, insensitivity, ignorance or lack of professionalism; many of our news anchors need lessons on even basic decency.
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Why do we all love to hate Arya?
20
1
07.05.2024
Immediately after the din over the bitterly fought elections drew to a close, Kerala’s mainstream and social media caught on to a new controversy. The bitter road rage incident involving Trivandrum City Corporation’s Mayor Arya Rajendran and a driver with the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). According to the 26-year-old Mayor, the driver was involved in rash and reckless driving and showed sexually obscene gestures against her and family while their car was passing by his bus. The mayor’s co-passengers included her husband, KM Sachin Dev, a CPI(M) legislator, her brother and his wife. The driver’s alleged misdemeanour made the Mayor and family block him by parking their car across from his bus at the zebra crossing on the busy main road at Palayam. A wordy duel ensued between the driver and the Mayor and her co-travellers. All the passengers on the bus had to disembark, and the bus was taken to the depot. The driver, HL Yadhu, dismissed all charges against him as baseless. Yadhu was taken into police custody on the Mayor’s complaint for his reckless driving and misdemeanour. Though he also filed a complaint against the Mayor and others for violating traffic rules, blocking the bus and interrupting his duty, no case was registered by the police. Later, a police case was registered against the MLA and Mayor, following the direction of a chief judicial magistrate court, based on a private petition from a lawyer.
The issue seems to bear multiple shades and layers of meaning and significance. But the media, which went to town with it, has taken a shrill and united position against the Mayor, even without having enough evidence to either prove or disprove her. The media, which usually backs the survivors of sexual harassment cases, seems united in this case in finding fault only with Arya. The driver has often been portrayed as a wounded hero and invited to hold forth on most news channels. The media constantly raised suspicions about the Mayor’s positions and picked holes in her charges. This is despite the existing law that says the evidence of a sexual assault victim is enough for the conviction of the accused. (More about the law follows). The media wasn't restrained even after a film artist revealed a similar experience she faced with the same driver earlier. Similar cases against the driver in the past also........
© Mathrubhumi English
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