A team from the Kollam police will take a statement from actor Swetha Menon in connection with her allegation of physical misbehaviour. A team from the Kollam East Police station will go to Ernakulam on Sunday.
The police took the decision on a petition submitted by Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) Kollam district secretary V.P. Prashant to City Police Commissioner Debesh Kumar Behera under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The petition called upon the police to register an FIR on the charges raised by Swetha. Mr. Behera forwarded the petition to the Assistant Commissioner of Police B. Krishna Kumar who, in turn, handed it over to the station officer of Kollam East police station.
Though the petition was submitted under Section 154 of the CrPC, the police can register a case only after getting the statement of the victim since the allegation pertained to an offence under Section 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code, Mr. Krishna Kumar said.
A senior police officer said a team from the Kollam East police, including women civil police officers, will leave for Ernakulam on Sunday morning to get the actor’s statement. Being an offence under Section 354 IPC, it is mandatory that a woman police officer takes the statement. A decision to register the case will be taken on the basis of the statement given by Swetha, the police said.
No complaint
Earlier, Collector B. Mohanan reiterated that he did not receive any complaint pertaining to the alleged incident from Swetha Menon either over the phone or in writing.
Talking to the media from his camp office in the morning, he said a case would be registered if Ms. Menon submitted a written complaint.
