The Kerala High Court on May 20 directed the police not to arrest till May 27 Kalamandalam Sathyabhama in connection with a case registered against her for her alleged casteist remarks about dancer R.L.V. Ramakrishnan.
Justice K. Babu passed the interim order when a petition filed by Kalamandalam Sathyabhama challenging the order of the Nedumangad Special Court for the offences under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act rejecting her plea for anticipatory bail in the case came up for hearing.
In her petition, Ms. Sathyabhama said that she was innocent and had not committed any offence under the Act. There was no prima facie incriminating material to establish the offence alleged against her. The case was falsely foisted on her. Except the offences under the SC/ST (POA) Act, no other offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) had been slapped on her. In fact, she had expressed only her concerns about the deteriorating standards of dances in a YouTube interview given by her. She did not mention names of any person during the interview, she said.
