Educated Kerala is losing values: Shashi Tharoor on molestation of actress

Tharoor slams mentality of people wherein they shame victim, while culprit remains almost scott-free

After the unfortunate incident of a leading actor from Malayalam film industry being allegedly molested, many celebrities and dignitaries have rallied in support and the latest to join the list is Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who has minced no words to condemn the incident.

Tharoor on Monday rued the fact that the incident took place in Kerala, inarguably the state with the most educated populace.

"This is an India-wide problem and that it is now happening in Kerala too is very sad. Somehow we have become a cultural state, an educated state but we are losing our values, we are losing our capacity," he told ANI in New Delhi.

Tharoor also slammed the mentality of people wherein they shame the victim, while the culprit remains almost scott-free.

"The horrible thing about this kind of crime in this country is that the people make the victim feel ashamed. That's why so many women don't come forward. They don't file their case. We must applaud this actress who has come forward. She had the courage to say that this wrong must be corrected," he said.

Tharoor also heaped on praises for the actress who showed the courage to come forward and report the misdoing to the police.

"What's incredibly impressive on the part of the lady is despite the trauma that she has gone through, she has had the courage to demand action. She has gone to the police. And I am hoping that the perpetrators of this criminal action are arrested, punished and prosecuted to the fullest extent of law," he said.

Tharoor further emphasised upon the importance of teaching children, especially the boys, to respect women.

"There are two things that we need to do. The law and order machinery of the state must improve. They have to ask whether they have done anything in terms of street-lighting, police patrolling. Secondly, we have to definitely educate our children, particularly our boys. There has to be a sustained information campaign. We can get the top actors and actresses of the state, actors in particular. We need to teach our children how important it is to respect the girls and women and not to behave in this way. Nothing justifies this," he said.

A case of attempted rape was filed after a popular Malayalam actress was allegedly abducted and molested on Friday night in the Ernakulam district of Kerala.

The incident, reportedly, took place while the victim was returning from a shoot.

According to police, the actress was held in the car for an hour, after which, she was dropped near her residence at around 10.30 pm.