MC Josephine - A career mired in controversies

Kozhikode: MC Josephine may not be the kindest women's commission chairman Kerala has seen. She was rough, straightforward and indifferent toward the modern ideologies of dealing with harassed women. It often sparked controversies.

Within months after taking charge as the chairperson of the State Women's Commission in 2017, Josephine locked horns with PC George. She ordered to take a case against George, then an MLA, over his remarks against the actor who was assaulted in February that year. The MLA had revealed the identity of the actor. George then turned his guns at Josephine. At one point, she even received a death threat as well. “I have no liability to protect his (George) privilege,” Josephine had said at that time when questioned about the Speaker's nod for recording George's statement in the case.

Josephine defended Hadiya, whose religious conversion triggered controversy at the national level. She questioned the stance of the National Women's Commission chairperson that there are forced conversions in the state. Josephine was denied permission to meet Hadiya by her father.

In September 2018, Josephine defended the then Shornur MLA, PK Sasi, who was accused of sexual misconduct. She said it is 'nothing new' and 'we are all human beings, mistakes do happen.' The chairperson refused to take a case in the matter. She added that since the woman complained to CPM, it is the onus of the party to decide whether to complain to the police or not. She said the party has a system to deal with such cases. She also said that the woman should approach the law agencies to get justice. Though police had approached the woman, she refused to file a complaint.

However, she had initiated a probe against two of her colleagues. One is former MP Innocent for his statement that though casting couch does not exist in Mollywood, some 'bad women do such things'. She also booked A Vijayaraghavan for his controversial statement against Alathur MP Ramya Haridas during the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign.

In July 2020, in the PK Sasi case, Josephine made another controversial remark. She said CPM is 'a court and police station'. No other party than CPM acts on sexual harassment complaints. "The survivor's family told me that party action was sufficient in the case. Our party is a court and a police station. It is impartial," she said.

In January 2021, a Kottayam native said that Josephine talked to her rudely regarding the case of an 89-year-old relative. The woman was attacked by a drunk neighbour. When filed a complaint with the Commission, a hearing was set up in Adoor. When the man informed her about the inconvenience of attending the hearing due to her age, Josephine asked why she had not gone to the police instead. The audio clip of the phone call had gone viral. Writer T Padmanabhan remarked back then that the chairperson has 'no mercy'.

Her biggest controversy was courted in June 2021 during a TV programme to address the concerns of women. In the programme, Josephine, responding to a woman who had called to complain about the harassment that she has been facing at her husband's home, but added that she had not given a police complaint, said: "If you have not done (that), then continue to suffer." Josephine was criticised for her 'rude and curt manner'. Though she gave directions to the woman at the end of the call, her affection-less intervention raised the eyebrows of all. Even her party was not ready to let it go that time. CPM demanded her resignation and she stepped down on June 25, 2021.