Call to remove PC George from ethics panel

Thiruvananthapuram: State Women's Commission chairperson M. C. Josephine on Wednesday demanded the ouster of P. C. George, MLA, from the Legislative Assembly Committee of Privilege and Ethics.

Josephine said the complaint filed by the commission against George in connection with his derogatory reference to the nun should not be heard by Assembly committee comprising him. She called upon women to protest against the derogatory statements being made against women by the legislator frequently.

When Deccan Chronicle  raised the matter of George’s continuation in Ethics Committee with Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan recently, the latter said that his presence in the panel should not be a problem. “The committee can ask him to stay away when the complaint against him comes up for discussion,” he said.

He had pointed out that Speaker cannot  unilaterally ask Assembly committee to keep out one of its members.

With pressure  now mounting on the ethics committee to oust George, the panel chairman A. Pradeep Kumar will have to take a call on the issue.

According to rules of procedure in the Legislative Assembly, the Speaker take up cases suo motu if the breach of conduct takes place in the House.

In other cases, the Speaker has to refer the complaints to Committee on Privileges and Ethics for examination and report.

After the legislator had made derogatory comments about the rape survivor nun in the Jalandhar Bishop case at a press meet, a campaign was launched with the slogan Shut up, PC George using the hashtag #VaayaMoodalCampaign. The campaign became a hit on the social media. The campaigners had asked everyone who wanted to part ofthe campaign to send cello tape or a duct tape to George, to ‘help’ seal his mouth.

‘Streekoottayma’ a group of women had started a unique campaign as part of which heaps of postcards were dispatched to his Aruvithara house.

In some of the post cards, angry women activists had written, “I am not a virgin. Sincerely, a prostitute.”