THENI: A fact-finding mission undertaken by an NGO in Madurai has brought to light the humiliating experiences of nearly 500 women, who were taken hostage by a frenzied mob in Kerala on Monday. According to a report released here on Wednesday by A Kathir, executive director of Evidence, “More than 1,000 Keralites had surrounded the women workers from Cumbum, Gudalur, Kombai, Devaram and Theni, who had gone to Idukki to work in private cardamom and tea estates.” The report went on to say that some of the men in the group then started abusing them.He demanded a probe into the incident by the National Commission for Women and the National Human Rights Commission and also wanted action to be taken against the Kerala Police, who had failed to prevent the incident. The NGO had sent an eight-member fact-finding team to the villages to interact with the rescued women after Express highlighted their plight in a report ‘500 TN Women Workers Rescued from Kerala Border’ published on Wednesday.“The abuse of the women had happened in the presence of the Kerala Police. The women told the team that they were teased in derogative language. When elderly women tried to protect the younger women, the men pulled them aside,” the report stated.According to the report, the women, who were returning home following reports of violence against Sabarimala pilgrims hailing from TN, were blocked and surrounded on their way to the inter-State border near Kumili. Some of the men were armed. The report said that initially, the women’s relatives managed to rescue some of them.
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