Southern States - Kerala   

Police prevent Janu from attending NCW seminar

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM May 20. Noisy scenes were witnessed on the second day of the workshop jointly organised by the National Commission for Women (NCW) and the State Women's Commission here on Tuesday, with the police preventing the tribal leader, C. K. Janu, from attending the deliberations.

A visibly upset chairperson of NCW, Poornima Advani, later told newspersons that she had extended a personal invitation to Ms. Janu to attend the workshop and that the refusal of the police to allow her entry was an insult to the NCW and the women in general.

The second day of the workshop on strategies for economic empowerment of women was to be an open house for NGOs and women's organisations.

The State Women's Commission had through the media, given an open invitation to all women to attend the open house, as the session was intended to give the NCW an opportunity to interact with women from all over the State and to listen to their problems.

Dr. Advani had had discussions with C. K. Janu earlier at the Government Guest House about the tribal land issue and the Muthanga incident in particular. Dr. Advani said that she had invited Janu over for the workshop, as the entry was not restricted to special invitees.

Ms. Janu was accompanied by other tribal women from Wayanad, including Meenakshi, who had complained to the NCW of sexual assault by police personnel at Muthanga. They were stopped at the gate itself by police personnel and again at the entrance to the venue, reportedly on directives from senior police officials.

The inaugural session had already begun by then. The Minister for Social Welfare, P. K. Kunhalikkutty, was speaking when a note had been urgently passed over to the NCW chairperson. An agitated Dr. Advani raised the issue with the Minister and the State Women's Commission chairperson, M. Kamalam.

Dr. Advani was seen rushing out, but Ms. Janu had left by then. "Both the Minister and the State Commission chairperson had assured me then that none, including Ms. Janu, would be stopped from attending the meeting and it was on the basis of their assurance that I sat through the session. Otherwise I would have stopped the inaugural ceremony immediately,'' Dr. Advani said later.

Representatives of several women's organisations later registered their protest over the incident. They alleged that it was on the directives from the State Commission that Janu was prevented from attending the meeting.

Ms. Kamalam, however, denied that the commission had anything to do with the incident.

``The commission had no knowledge about Ms. Janu attending the meeting and we never gave any instructions that she not be let in. If the police had prevented her from entering it could be due to security concerns as the Social Welfare Minister was attending the meeting,'' Ms. Kamalam said.

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