‘Elected for public service or personal pleasure?’; Bhagyalakshmi tears into MLA Rahul Mamkootathil

Film activist Bhagyalakshmi has come out strongly against Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil, who was arrested in a sexual assault case on Sunday morning. In a social media post, she asked whether people voted for Rahul and made him victorious so that he could travel across the state, deceive women, financially exploit and cheat them. Rahul has deceived not only the women involved but also the people who voted for him. She added that this is a grave offence than allegations of corruption.

“I was thinking— in the first, second, and now the third complaint, Rahul Mamkootathil’s only argument - it was consensual. He does not say that no offence was committed. Whether it was consensual or not is not the issue I see here. Isn’t he a people’s representative? Roaming across the state, trapping women, financially exploiting and deceiving them— is this what people voted him into power? What about those who voted for him? Aren’t they also being humiliated? Is this the responsibility of an MLA?” Bhagyalakshmi asked.

“If one asks what he did during five years as an MLA, is this his achievement? I would say he has misused the position he was given in a dirty manner. Didn’t he also betray the people who voted for him? How many more ‘consensual’ victims might still be hesitant or afraid to come forward? If none of this had come out, wouldn’t he have continued doing the same? What safety is there for women who approach him? Doesn’t this mean he has no responsibility whatsoever towards his party or the people? Did he become a people’s representative for his own bodily pleasure? This is a crime more serious than corruption allegations,” she added.

Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil was nabbed by the police in a fresh rape assault complaint. The arrest was based on an online complaint filed by a 31-year-old married woman from Kottayam, who is employed in Canada. The accused was produced at the residence of Pathanamthitta Judicial Magistrate and was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days before being shifted to the Mavelikkara sub-jail.