Complaint Filed Against Actor Salim Kumar for Mocking Mental Health at UDF Campaign Rally

Thiruvananthapuram: A formal complaint has been filed before the Election Commission against actor Salim Kumar by the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD), seeking action against him for remarks made at a UDF election campaign meeting in Paravur that ridiculed and trivialised mental health conditions.

At the campaign event, Salim Kumar made a derogatory comment suggesting that anyone who says Kerala has developed should be sent to a mental health centre. Taking this further, he built his remarks around a statement by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan — in which the CM had mentioned that a friend's son told him he was astonished by the changes in Kerala — and twisted it into a crude joke. Salim Kumar claimed that the boy was mentally ill, that he had encountered him at Oolampara, and that the boy's mental condition was set right after receiving electric shock treatment.

The NPRD's complaint states that such remarks are not merely offensive but deeply harmful, as they reinforce existing prejudices against people living with mental health challenges and normalise the public mockery and stigmatisation of this community. The organisation further pointed out that through such statements, Salim Kumar is undermining years of sustained struggle for the dignity, equality, and rights of persons with disabilities and mental health conditions.

The complaint also emphasises that the continued use of such language during election campaign events constitutes not only a violation of legal protections afforded to this community, but also a fundamental breach of the standards of decency and accountability that are expected of participants in a democratic process.