Kerala Police register case against director Ranjith over sexual misconduct allegation

The Kerala Police on Monday registered a non-bailable case against Malayalam film director Ranjith based on the complaint of a woman actor who accused him of sexual misconduct.

Ranjith, who denied the allegations, had on Sunday resigned as the head of the state-run Kerala Chalachitra Academy.

In the wake of the release of the Justice Hema Committee report, which exposed the rampant sexual abuse and exploitation of women in Malayalam movies, Bengali actor Sreelekha Mitra told the media last week that Ranjith had allegedly misbehaved with her in 2009 during the pre-production phase of the film Paleri Manikyam.

She has filed a complaint with Kochi city police, which registered the case under section 354 of the IPC, which deals with criminal force or assault against a woman with the intention to outrage her modesty. The FIR was registered under IPC as the incident allegedly took place in 2009.