A leader implicated in several incidences of sexual assault was reinstated by the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM). The party took back Pathanamthitta Thiruvalla Local Committee Member C. C. Sajimon.

In 2018, Sajimon was accused in the case of raping a married woman, impregnating her and swapping samples during the DNA test. In 2022, he was charged in a case where a woman communist leader was drugged, and a nude video was shot and circulated.

The local administration helped him meddle with the DNA test. A policeman who helped tamper with the DNA test was later suspended.

This is the second time Sajimon is being reinstated after being expelled from the party. This time, he was taken back as per the decision of the Control Commission based on technicalities.

Sajimon was previously Kottali branch secretary and a Thiruvalla Town North Local Committee member. He was expelled last December at a leadership meeting in the presence of central committee member KK Shailaja. However, the CPM Control Commission has now cancelled the expulsion process.

The commission revoked the expulsion process by pointing out that there is no need for two actions for one mistake. Allegedly, the official wing of the party in Thiruvalla pulled the strings to get Sajimon back.

CPM’s Control Commission

CPM’s Control Commission is an internal system that many suspect whitewashed crimes (after measuring the intensity of sexual and violent crimes) of local communist leaders. These kangaroo courts function like the Sharia courts in Afghanistan. In such cases, local police and courts can remain as mere spectators.

Such commissions are CPM’s moral police force. Only CPM-approved leaders can work on these commissions. The same person simultaneously becomes a lawyer, prosecutor, and judge, sometimes leading to extreme public and theatrical punishments.

These actions remove safeguards that should be in place to avoid any collusion, arrangement or dependence between law enforcement and a criminal. It also instils fear in the minds of honest police officers to act against the accused.

A History of CPM Leaders Sexual Abuse

An allegation of sexual abuse was made by a woman Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) (Marxist youth wing) leader against CPM state committee member P Sasi in 2010. Other CPM members accused Sasi of acting in a morally repugnant way (a serial abuser). Following relentless pressure from V S Achuthanandan, Sasi (close confidante of CM Pinarayi Vijayan) was reluctantly expelled by the party in 2011.

However, Sasi continued to have a lot of influence within the CPM even after being expelled. He served as the CPM workers’ attorney in the cases of T P Chandrasekharan and Kathiroor Manoj’s murders (public and theatrical murders.

Two years after the first Pinarayi government took office in 2018, the police reported to the Hosdurg First Class Judicial Magistrate Court that Sasi was not guilty of the alleged sexual assault. Without holding a trial, the Court then dismissed the case.

In 2022, Sasi was appointed as the political secretary of CM Vijayan. The victim is no longer with the DYFI.

In 2018, another DYFI district secretariat member accused PK Sasi, the party’s Shornur MLA and a Vijayan crony, of sexual harassment at the Mannarkad party office and over the phone. After much prodding by the victim, Sasi was suspended from the party for six months.

After BJP leaders intervened, the issue caught the attention of the National Commission for Women (NCW), which asked the State Police Chief to provide an update on the situation within a fortnight. Kerala Women’s Commission, headed by CPM Central Committee member MC Josephine, refused to interfere.

The victim was the target of pressure from DYFI members, who even offered her money and a leadership position in the organisation in exchange for her dropping the complaint. She never got justice, neither from our system nor from her party.

In 2021, the Kerala government appointed its tainted former MLA of Shornur, PK Sasi, as the chairman of Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC).

When party control/ inquiry commissions exonerate such criminals, the victims lose their credibility and reputation. It is also a signal to law enforcement, which results in the matter being brushed under the carpet. How young women with even an iota of self-respect still join such deprived patriarchal communists remains unknown.