Second FIR filed against director Ranjith for sexual abuse

A second case of sexual offence has been filed against director Ranjith following a complaint by a male actor in the district, police said on Saturday.

An FIR was lodged against the director under Section 377 (unnatural offence) of the Penal Code and Section 66 E (punishment for breach of privacy) of the Information Technology (IT) Act at Kasaba police station on Friday evening, a senior police official of the district said.

The complainant actor alleges that in 2012, the director called him to a hotel in Bengaluru, asked him to strip naked and took nude photos of him.

The complainant also claimed to TV channels that the photos were sent to a well-known female actor, who denied the accusation.

The first case against Ranjith was under Section 354 of the Penal Code (assault or criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty). The case was filed by a female actor from West Bengal, who filed a complaint about an incident that took place in 2009.

She alleged that the director had touched her inappropriately for sexual purposes after he invited her to act in the 2009 film Paleri Manikyam.

Following the actor’s allegations, Ranjith resigned as chairman of the Kerala Chalachitra Academy.

Several FIRs have been registered against many well-known Malayalam film personalities, following allegations of sexual harassment against several directors and actors, in the wake of revelations in the Justice K Hema Commission report.

The Justice Hema Committee was set up by the Kerala government after the 2017 actress sexual assault case. The report exposed cases of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry.

After allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation were made against several actors and directors, the state government on August 25 announced the formation of a seven-member special investigation team to probe the allegations.