Kerala MP’s wife narrates ‘sexual harassment’ incident, sparks row

Narration of an incident of alleged sexual harassment by the wife of an MP from Kerala in her memoir has triggered a row. 

Nisha Jose, wife of Kerala Congress (M) leader and MP Jose K Mani, hasn’t named the alleged harasser in her book, The Other Side of This Life, launched last week. But, in social media debates, the name of Shone George, son of Independent legislator and former Kerala Congress (M) leader P C George, has emerged. Shone George has lodged a police complaint in Kottayam, demanding a probe. However, police Monday rejected the complaint on the ground that there is no reference to any criminal activity.

On Tuesday, Shone George said, “I would go to any extent to bring out the truth. The woman, who is close to my mother’s age, has written a book to connect to the ‘me too’ campaign. The person who has written this incident is not a weak person… I was forced to



take legal action because certain online news portals mentioned my name,’’ he said.

In the book, Nisha has narrated how she was allegedly harassed during a train journey from Thiruvananthapuram to Kottayam. She hasn’t mentioned the date, but the narration indicates the incident took place during the previous UDF regime, when her father-in-law and Kerala Congress (M) chairman K M Mani was a minister. “I positioned myself comfortably all set to sleep… The gentleman had other plans. He came and sat right next to me.

I felt uncomfortable…Occasionally, his hand would accidently brush past my toes… And every time he did so accidently, I was uncomfortable… I asked him to leave,’’ she wrote. She has written that in “modern days”, this episode would be “certainly termed harassment”. P C George said Nisha triggered a controversy with political intention.