Kochi, Sep 3 (IANS) A court in Kochi, Kerala on Tuesday granted interim relief from arrest to two Malayalam film actors – two-time CPI(M) MLA Mukesh and former Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) general secretary Edavela Babu.
Senior actor Maniyanpilla Raju has got a big relief. The Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court has granted his anticipatory bail plea.
For Mukesh and Babu, the court said that the final decision on the anticipatory bail petitions will be pronounced on Thursday and till then both should not be arrested.
Another person who got similar relief is Congress worker and lawyer V.S. Chandrasekaran. All three are facing serious charges.
Following the release of the Hema Committee report, which probed the condition of women in the Malayalam film industry, on August 19, the Kerala police have so far registered FIRs against 10 persons, nine of them from the film industry, based on complaints from various actresses.
Those charged after the police filed an FIR include Mukesh, Siddique, Jayasurya, Edavela Babu, Maniyanpilla Raju, directors Ranjith and V.K. Prakash and production executives Vichu and Nobel. Actor Baburaj and director Thulasidas are named in the complaints but no FIR has been filed against them yet.
Both the Congress and the BJP have accused the Pinarayi Vijayan government of suppressing the report for the last four years and eight months and protecting the violators and adopting an apathetic attitude towards the victims, contrary to their oft-quoted statement that they always provide full protection to women.
This report of the committee, which was constituted in 2017 and submitted in 2019, was finally released on August 19 after a prolonged legal battle and here too, the Vijayan government has been accused of editing the contents of the report to a greater extent than was sought by the court.
The report, which was prepared by a committee formed in 2017 and submitted in 2019, was finally released on August 19 after a long legal battle. Now, the Vijayan government is said to have deleted more parts of the report than the court had asked for.
Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Team of seven police officers, four of whom are women IPS officers, is currently recording statements of the victims who have come forward with their complaints and those who have been accused are yet to be questioned.
–IANS
SCH/AS
