Kerala Police register case against director Ranjith over sexual misconduct allegation

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.

The case will be handed over to the Special Investigation Team set up by the Kerala government to look into allegations that have come up in the aftermath of the Hema Committee report’s release.

Resigning from his post on Sunday, Ranjith claimed that the allegation was an outcome of a “concerted move” against him after he became chairperson of the academy.