The Kerala Police on Thursday registered cases against seven persons, including actor-legislator M. Mukesh, following the sexual harassment allegations levelled by a woman actor in the wake of the release of the Justice Hema Committee report.
Six cases were registered in Ernakulam district, while one was filed in Thiruvananthapuram.
All the cases will be handed over to SIT for investigation
The first information report against Mr. Mukesh, an MLA from the ruling CPI(M), has been registered under Section 376 (rape), which is a non-bailable offence, Section 354 (assault or criminal force to women with intent to outrage her modesty), and 509 (insult the modesty of a woman by word, sound, gesture or object) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The District and Sessions Court, Ernakulam, directed the investigation officer on Thursday not to arrest him till September 3 after noting that there was no chance of him fleeing from the clutches of law. The order came on an anticipatory bail plea moved by the actor, who submitted that he was ready to cooperate with the investigation and to appear before the investigation officer.
Actor and former general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) Edavela Babu too was booked on the same charges. V.S. Chandrasekharan, who stepped down as Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) legal aid cell chairman and president of the Lawyers’ Congress State committee, was booked under IPC Sections 376 (rape) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
Actor and former office-bearer of AMMA Maniyanpilla Raju and production controller Noble have been booked under IPC Sections 354 and 509.
All these five accused are among the seven named by the actor in as many petitions filed with the special investigation team (SIT) headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police Ajeetha Begum for probing the sexual harassment cases on Tuesday. Following this, a team of the SIT led by Ms. Begum recorded the statement of the petitioner at her apartment on Wednesday.
The police also registered an FIR against a production controller identified as Vichu, who was one among the alleged perpetrators named by the woman actor.
Actor Jayasurya has been booked for allegedly sexual harassing a female artist at the State Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram during a film shoot several years ago. The police registered a case invoking non-bailable provisions, including Sections 354 (outraging the modesty of women) and 354A (sexual harassment) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code. The actor has been accused of misbehaving with his co-worker on the sets of the film De Ingottu Nokkiye in 2008.
The Kerala Police have reportedly moved the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Thiruvananthapuram, to record the statement of a young and aspiring artist who publicly accused actor Siddique of raping her after luring her to a hotel in the capital on the pretext of auditioning her for an upcoming movie project in 2016. Officials said on Thursday that the police had reportedly sought the service of a woman magistrate to record the survivor’s statement in camera.
