The Kochi City police have registered five cases, including against actor-legislator M. Mukesh for rape, in four different police stations in connection with sexual harassment allegations levelled by a woman actor against seven persons in the wake of the Hema Committee report.
The first information report (FIR) against Mukesh has been registered by the Maradu police under IPC Sections 376 (rape), which is a non-bailable offence, Sections 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).
All the cases will be handed over to SIT for investigation
Actor and former general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) Edavela Babu has also been booked for the same charges by the Ernakulam Town North police. V.S. Chandrasekharan, who stepped down as the KPCC legal aid cell chairman and president of the Lawyers’ Congress State committee, has been booked by the Central police under IPC Sections 376 (rape) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
Actor and former office-bearer of AMM. Maniyanpilla Raju and production controller Noble have been booked under IPC Sections 354 and 509 by the Fort Kochi and Ernakulam Town North police respectively.
All the five accused were among the seven named by the actor in as many petitions filed by the woman actor with the special investigation team (SIT) headed by DIG Ajeetha Begum for probing the sexual harassment cases on Tuesday. Following this, a team of SIT led by Ms. Begum recorded the statement of the petitioner at her apartment lasting many hours on Wednesday (August 28, 2024).
The clamour for the resignation of CPI(M) MLA Mukesh is likely to turn shriller with the registration of the FIR. Already, women social activists affiliated with the Left have also demanded his resignation.
Meanwhile, the Nedumbassery 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 booked
In yet another fallout of the Hema committee report, prominent actor Jayasurya has been booked for allegedly sexual harassing a female artiste in the State Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram during a film shoot several years ago.
The Cantonment police registered a case invoking non-bailable provisions including Sections 354 (outraging the modesty of women), 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 complainant had alleged that he groped her near a washroom.
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