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