Afsal Rahman | India Tomorrow
KOCHI, JULY 1—Controversial activist Rehna Fathima against whom the Kerala police have booked a criminal case under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, has moved the Kerala High Court seeking interim bail.
The police registered a case against her following a video she posted on her social media accounts with a hashtag #BodyArtandPolitics.
The video pertained to her two minor children painting on her semi-nude body.
She uploaded the video on Youtube and shared it through her Facebook account.
The video provoked outrage, with many from different background slamming her for promoting nudity and that too by using her minor children.
This led Adv AV Arun Prakash, Kerala State General Secretary, OBC Morcha, to file a police complaint against her.
Several other FIRs were subsequently filed against her at Thiruvalla and Ernakulam Town South police stations for charges under various sections of IT Act and Juvenile Justice Act.
While she is yet to be arrested, police seized her laptop, mobile phones, painting brushes belonging to Rehna during a raid at her Ernakulam residence. Rehna was not present during the raid.
The 33-year-old female activist has, however, alleged in her bail application that she had not committed any crime by getting her body painted by her children. She believes that what she did comes under the right to freedom of expression and hence, it did not amount to any crime.
Along with the video, she attached a note mustering courage to justify her act. In the note, she wrote, “No child who has seen his own mother’s nakedness and body, can abuse the female body. Therefore, vaccines against false perceptions about women’s body and sexuality should be initiated from home”.
Rehna’s husband and film maker, Manoj K Sreedhar, in media interviews, is also insisting that Rehna has not violated any law.
“What is seen here is the sexual frustration of society. There is no obscenity in what she did. This is the interaction between a mother and her children. The children painted a Phoenix bird on the mother’s body to keep her cool while she was ill. It was good art. The video is posted to show the art of the children and to show this doesn’t have to be a problem in society. A particular party is attacking us. The case has been filed in four places. All these complaints were given by this party. They are doing this for political advantage. And they’re cyberbullying from fake IDs,” ANI quoted Sreedhar having said. Sreedhar hopes that high court would grant her anticipatory bail.
This is not for the first time that Rehna has courted controversy. She came in limelight in 2014 when she took part in controversial ‘Kiss of Love’ protest in Kochi along with her husband Sreedhar to protest against the moral policing of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. BJYM activists beat up any couple if found hugging or kissing in public places. She also courted another controversy when she was the only women in Pulikali, an all-male dance, in Thrissur in Kerala in 2016.
Rehna, according to media reports, was born into a conservative Muslim family. She also attended classes in ‘madrasa’, a religious seminary and performed ‘namaz’ also. However, she gave it up all as she became disillusioned with religion after her father’s demise.
In an interview to The Times of India in 2018, she said, “The more you pay heed to regressive comments, the more freedom is chained. It is my body and I have the right to wear what I want”.
Rehna also acted in a film titled ‘Ekta’ that was directed by Sreedhar. The film is about the lives of intersex persons.
In 2018, Rehna entered into a new controversy when she tried to enter Sabarimala Temple after the Supreme Court allowed entry into the temple. While the Kerala Muslim Jamaath Council expelled her from the community for “hurting the sentiments of lakhs of Hindu devotees”, she was dismissed from service by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) where she was working for violating service norms and discipline.
After the latest controversy, Rehna has been asked to vacate the house that was allotted to her as a BSNL employee.
