Forty-five women, employees of a private firm in the Special Economic Zone in Kochi, were allegedly stripped by two female supervisors because they wanted to know who left a used sanitary napkin in the bathroom.
A case has been registered against the two supervisors by Kochi police on the grounds of outraging the modesty of women. According to the Indian Express, the state women's commission has also heard of this incident, and has stepped in.
The complaint states that the incident took place at Asma Rubber Private Limited on 10 December; as none of the employees owned up to using the sanitary napkin, the supervisors went ahead and conducted an invasive strip-search on all women under 50 years old.
Although the incident took place on 10 December, the complaint was reportedly only registered on Saturday.
"We had to ask the police to file charges," said Dr Lissy Jose of the Kerala Women's Commission. "We have asked for a full report on the incident from the police as well as from the private company."
Kerala police's Women Cell said: "We have got the case transferred from the local police on Sunday. We would begin the probe only on Monday after recording the statements of the workers and their supervisors.''
Jose stated that the Kerala Women's Commission would seek swift justice and that stern action would be taken against those who committed the act.
In a report by the Huffington Post, Binu Mathew, marketing manager of the rubber company, said: "We have checked the video footage of that day and nothing seems to be amiss. We have submitted an internal report and the videos to the local police."
He also alleged that the employees had "enmity" with their supervisors, and that this was their way to get the latter fired.