Published Feb 10, 2025 | 2:26 PM ⚊ Updated Feb 10, 2025 | 2:26 PM
Jolly Madhu breathed her last in a Kochi hospital around 11 am on Monday, 10 February. (Supplied)
Synopsis: Jolly Madhu’s family said she was constantly harassed at work and was transferred to Rajamahendravaram in Andhra Pradesh despite her poor health. They said Jolly’s letters to the Prime Minister and President made her seniors isolate and target her. The family alleged that attempts were also made to alter a health certificate granted to her by a medical board. The woman, a cancer survivor, died at a private hospital in Kochi on Monday, 10 February, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage, reportedly caused by hypertension.
The family of a Coir Board of India woman employee has accused her senior officials of harassment, which led to her death on Monday, 10 February.
Jolly Madhu, 56, a Section Officer (Administration) of the Coir Board and resident of Vennala in Kochi, died in a private hospital where she had been on ventilator support following a cerebral hemorrhage. The deceased worked with the Coir Board for the past 30 years.
Her family said constant harassment deteriorated Jolly’s health. They alleged that senior officials of the Coir Board denied her medical leave despite the woman was a cancer survivor.
She was also transferred to Rajamahendravaram (Rajahmundry) in Andhra Pradesh. Her salary, too, had been withheld for five months, it was alleged.
Jolly’s family has now lodged a complaint with the Secretary of the Board, holding the former secretary and other officials responsible for her untimely death.
Relatives claimed that Jolly collapsed at home on 31 January. She was writing an apology letter, reportedly under pressure from the secretary, to the chairman. They further alleged that she was mentally harassed for escalating complaints about workplace mistreatment to the Prime Minister and President.
Despite medical board recommending against transferring her due to health reasons, officials allegedly ignored the advice.
A few hours before Jolly’s death, her elder son Mahesh Michael posted a message on social media.
‘’Jolly Madhu, who served the Coir Board under India’s MSME Ministry for over 30 years, was a fighter—a cancer survivor and a widow who never backed down. But the battle she never expected was against the very organization she loyally served,” Michael said on LinkedIn.
“In August 2024, she was abruptly transferred from Kochi to Rajahmundry as punishment for exposing corruption. Despite her fragile health, she was denied medical leave, her salary was stopped, and her pleas for help went unanswered,” he said, adding that medical reviews by the board humiliated her by questioned her officially documented illness.
“On January 31, while writing a final plea for mercy, she collapsed. Her last handwritten words: ‘Sir, I am scared and have no courage to speak to our Hon’ble Chairman. I beg for your mercy.’Moments later, she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage due to severe stress and hypertension.
Workplace stress doesn’t just affect mental well-being—it affects physical health. In my mother’s case, the constant anxiety and harassment triggered hypertension that led to a brain hemorrhage. For Anna Sebastian, it was the chronic strain of long hours without support. Both women’s lives were destroyed by a system that prioritises output and compliance over human well-being,’’ he wrote.
Anna Sebastian Perayil, a 26-year-old chartered accountant with Ernst & Young, died of alleged workplace pressure in July 2024.
Jolly’s brother-in-law Maxy said her complaint to the Prime Minister and President were forwarded to Coir Board Chairman, which further made her a target.
Maxy said several of Jolly’s colleagues, too, have been harassed at work. He said most of them were scared to speak out.
“When our family escalated the complaints to Coir Board officials and informed them that Jolly has been in a coma for the past seven days, the officials requested news alerts in English or translated reports before they could intervene,” he said before the woman’s death on Monday.
When Jolly received a transfer order to Andhra Pradesh, the Coir Board’s medical panel, including Dr Bala Murali Krishna KS, a Consultant Oncologist, and Dr M Sindhu, a Consultant in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at General Hospital, Ernakulam, certified that she required lifelong medical treatment.
Despite this certification, officials pressured Dr Bala Murali to alter his report to justify the transfer. He refused, Maxy said.
After Jolly suffered an aneurysm, the medical team at Amrita Hospital stated that such a condition typically occurs in individuals over 70. “In her case, extreme stress was identified as the primary cause,” Maxy said.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
