Thiruvananthapuram: Moments after Kerala Assistant Commissioner of Police Merin Joseph posted her picture with popular southern actor Nivin Pauly on Facebook, the image went viral grabbing thousands of 'likes'.
Her post was titled - "With Nivin Pauly...The current sensation in Kerala". The officer and the actor were both guests at an event in a college in Ernakulam. She has been facing criticism for uploading a photo taken when she was in uniform.
Fed up with the media attention on her photo with the actor, Joseph took to social media to claiming that "non-issues are being sensationalized." In her clarification, she said that the picture was taken by Congress lawmaker Hibi Eden on her request and with the actor's consent.
In a scathing post on Facebook on Thursday, Joseph said, "I was a guest and had no "official duties"... There was a huge gap during the event, the Home Minister had already left, and other guests on stage had moved aside, what am I as a guest with no other duties supposed to do? Jump off the stage? Stand in attention saluting the audience? ... The media channels which pander to such cheapness and voyeurism, have my pity. I pray such desperate means don't become the only means to earn their livelihood. Why didn't I react so far to the so-called controversy caused over my photo with Mr. Nivin Pauly at the MLA function in Ernakulam to felicitate students? Because I don't react to non-issues. And for those who still need clarification, I am pointing out that the pic was taken by MLA Hibi Eden after securing his consent and that too, during a lighter moment of laughter over a shared joke. I don't know why some dubious, unheard-of news channel, which doesn't have the slightest idea of journalistic ethics, is trying to define protocols for officers. For the information of anybody who cares about this cheap sensationalizing, I state that I was a guest at the function, had no "official duties", and it was only in the long gap that occurred while the organizers got the stage ready for prize distribution that all this happened. I had already finished reading out the oath (which was the only task entrusted to me). When such a gap is there, the Home Minister has already left the venue and the other guests on the stage have moved aside, what am I as a guest with no other duties supposed to do? Jump off the stage? Stand in attention saluting the audience?? Or go sit in an available chair in the corner of the stage and keep myself occupied? For those who think that I was neglecting some important duty or doing something unbecoming, I merely ask which law states that one can't upload a photo when idly passing time?? I didn't disrupt the arrangements or cause any inconvenience except perhaps catch the attention of some reporter who didn't have any worthwhile work. The media channels which pander to such cheapness and voyeurism, have my pity. I pray such desperate means don't become the only means for them to earn their livelihood."
This is not the first time that Joseph is in the line of fire. Several times since she joined the Kerala cadre as a trainee officer, social media has been abuzz with comments on her looks.
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