PALAKKAD: Congress candidate from the Palakkad Assembly seat and actor, Ramesh Pisharody on Saturday said that the woman, who accused a former party councillor of sexual assault, should get justice.
At the same time, Pisharody said that the incident, though regrettable, will not affect the party prospects in the constituency in the Assembly polls on April 9.
He also said that what happened to the woman was wrong and the culprit should be punished.
"The police and the concerned authorities should take all the necessary steps to ensure justice to the complainant woman. Anyone who commits such wrong act should be punished," he said.
The actor said that he did not know the accused councillor -- Prashob C Valsan -- personally and on seeing his picture in news reports, recognised him as someone who had been part of his poll campaign.
"He accompanied us during the campaigning. Beyond that, I don't know anything about that person," Pisharody said, told reporters here.
On being asked if the allegations against Valsan would affect the party's chances in the polls, he said that the individual acts of a ward member would not make that kind of an impact.
When asked if Valsan should resign as a councillor following his expulsion from the party, he said that it is a decision that the Congress leadership has to take.
The woman, who belongs to a Scheduled Tribe community, has alleged that the councillor sexually assaulted her multiple times on the promise of arranging a stable job and later pressured her to terminate the pregnancy.
She has lodged complaints with the police and the chief minister.
The BJP and the ruling LDF have criticised the Congress over the issue, alleging that Prashob is a close aide of sitting MLA Rahul Mamkootathil, who was expelled from Congress and had been arrested earlier in sexual assault cases.