Three well-known Malayalam actors were booked for allegedly defaming a woman artist through their YouTube channels, police said on Saturday.
Police have registered cases against television-cinema actor Beena Antony, her actor-husband Manoj and award-winning actress Swasika for “insulting the modesty” of the woman actor through social media platform.
“The complainant has alleged that Beena, Manoj and Swasika insulted her through their YouTube channels out of revenge as she raised allegations against prominent actors,” PTI quoted a police officer as saying.
Police confirmed that the charges were registered against the accused under Section 79 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which refers to “word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman”.
According to Nedumbassery police, the complainant had recently raised allegations against some prominent actors in the Malayalam cinema following the release of Justice Hema Committee report.
Following the release of the report, several prominent names in the Malayalam film industry were accused of sexual abuse and misconduct.
The Kerala Government unveiled the report on August 19 after several lawsuits were filed with the Kerala High Court against its public release. The report revealed severe workplace sexual harassment within the industry. With primary focus on the 2017 rape case of an actress, who was abducted and sexually assaulted in a moving vehicle, the report was issued in a redacted form.
In the aftermath of Hema Committee report, a well-known filmmaker Ranjith also came under scanner after a Bengali actress lodged a formal complaint with the Kochi City Police Commissioner in August. The filmmaker was charged with IPC Section 354, which pertains to assault or criminal force with the intent to outrage a woman’s modesty, according to Kochi Police Commissioner S. Syamsundar. Following this development several female actors came forward with their own troubling experiences of mistreatment by male colleagues.
