Rema mulls defamation suit as CPM vilifies her for hand injury

Thiruvananthapuram: The sole Revolutionary Marxist Party of India legislator K K Rema will file a defamation case against CPM leaders for alleging that the injury she suffered during the clash in the Legislative Assembly was fake.

Rema told Malayala Manorama that she would file a defamation case against persons including Sachin Dev, MLA, who made the allegation at first and CPM State Secretary M V Govindan who backed his claim.

The injury on Rema’s right hand occurred when the Watch and Ward personnel tried to push her away during the Opposition protest in front of the Speaker’s office on March 15.

The doctor at the Assembly who was consulted at first referred her to the General Hospital. The orthopaedics at the hospital who examined her recommended putting the cast of plaster on the hand. But, Sachin Dev claimed on Facebook the same day the plaster had been put on the wrong hand.

CPM introspects

The CPM itself has come to the conclusion that the campaign against Rema was carried out in violation of the party’s guidelines on the decorum that is to be maintained by party members while interacting on social media. The leaders too have realised that they erred by lending support to the campaign.

The party leadership feels that leaders who are duty-bound to correct the cadres on such issues themselves supported a vilification campaign against Rema.

The doctor had confirmed that there was an injury to a ligament on Rema’s hand and that the cast of plaster was done as part of the treatment for that. The first cast of plaster was changed and an MRI scan was also recommended. With this clarification, the CPM is finding it hard to defend the accusation that its 'cybergangs' had made a conscious attempt to carry out a personal vilification campaign with the blessings of the leaders.

The social media guidelines formulated at a meeting on May 2, 2018, state that “The party numbers must act in such a manner as to hold high the dignity and decorum of the party in the cyber world”. There is a prohibition on personal vilification.

However, hundreds of posts by CPM's cyberwarriors claimed Rema was playing out a drama by conveying that she had fractured her hand in the melee. In an attempt to prove that there was no fracture, the X-ray image of some other person was circulated!

In fact, Rema did not claim anywhere that the plaster was put because she had suffered a fracture on the hand.