Justice Hema Committee Report: Second Sexual Offence Case Filed Against Director Ranjith Balakrishnan

A second case for a sexual offence has been registered against director Ranjith Balakrishnan following a complaint by a male actor in this district, police announced on Saturday.

An FIR was lodged on Friday night at the Kasaba police station under sections 377 (unnatural offence) of the IPC and section 66E (punishment for violation of privacy) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, a senior police officer said.

The complainant actor alleged that Ranjith had called him to a hotel in Bengaluru in 2012, asked him to strip, and took nude photos of him. The actor also claimed, in statements to TV channels, that these photos were sent to a well-known veteran female actor, who has since denied the allegation.

The first case against Ranjith involved IPC Section 354 (assault or criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty). This case was brought by a female actor from West Bengal, who alleged that Ranjith had touched her inappropriately with sexual intent after inviting her to act in the movie Paleri Manikyam in 2009. Following this allegation, Ranjith resigned from his position as chairman of the Kerala Chalachitra Academy.

Multiple FIRs have been filed against various high-profile Malayalam film personalities following allegations of sexual harassment against directors and actors, spurred by revelations in the Justice K.Hema Committee report.

The Justice Hema Committee was established by the Kerala government after the 2017 actress assault case, with its report exposing instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry.

In response to the rising allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation against several actors and directors, the state government announced on August 25 the formation of a seven-member special investigation team to probe these cases.

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