Who is MC Josephine? Josephine is an Indian activist and politician. She is currently the Chief of Kerala's Women's Commission. Josephine is known for her controversial statements directed towards women.
Amidst a television call-in-show hosted on a Malayalam channel, Josephine said, "Then you suffer" to a domestic violence survivor-woman who was on call on Wednesday. Her response has provoked many furious reactions from netizens calling it an insensitive action.
According to reports, MC Josephine was talking to the caller in the show who was a domestic violence survivor and her mother. The caller was from Kochi and was married in 2014. She shared that she was assaulted by her husband and mother-in-law.
Josephine reportedly reacted in an annoying way to the domestic assault survivor. She reportedly sounded irritated which may be due to the audio issues. She said, "Then you suffer, OK?" Though according to reports, she wasn't annoyed at the other callers.
First, Josephine asked the caller whether she has children to which the woman said no after being inaudible for some seconds. Later, when Josephine asked the woman whether she has informed anyone about the abuse, then the woman said no to which Josephine made the controversial remark.
BJP leader Sobha Surendran urged Union Minister Smriti Irani to look into the matter and said, "Chairperson of Kerala Women's Commission is an intolerant hostile CPI(M) leader who condemned a domestic violence complainant on live TV and condones abuse. Requesting Smriti Irani to kindly intervene."
Before this incident, MC Josephine had called an abusive Malayalam slang to an elderly woman. In January 2021, Josephine was in conversation with an 87-year-old assault survivor, Lakshmikutty. She was asking for the women's commission hearing to shift to a nearby location as she was bedridden. Josephine was heard saying in a video to the relative of the woman as to why he made her file a complaint. Further, she addressed her as 'thalla' which a Malayalam word used for old woman in a rude colloquial way.
Now a second allegation of rude conduct has emerged against MC Josephine. According to a report by Mathrubhumi an audio clip is doing rounds on social media, in which Josephine is heard telling a woman alleging marriage fraud that she doesn't have time to listen to her. She also allegedly said that the complainant deserved a tight slap.
The complainant told the women's commission chairperson that her husband has abandoned her and their children to marry another woman. She went on to add that he later left his second wife too and married a cousin. According to the complainant the accused then allegedly left his third wife too, and returned to her. Upon hearing her complaint, Josephine reportedly asked her if she was concocting stories.
As per news reports, MC Josephine tendered her resignation from the post of Kerala Women’s Commission chairperson. Josephine gave her resignation, on directions of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist), after a secretariat meeting was convened in Thiruvananthapuram. She had been in the role of the state women's commission chair since 2017 and had 11 months left on her term.
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