Ivory Case: Relief To Malayalam Actor Mohanlal, Kerala HC Stays Trial In Lower Court

The Malayalam actor Mohanlal has recently received significant relief from the Kerala High Court in the matter of possessing elephant tusks.

The High Court has imposed a stay on the proceedings in the lower court.

Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan of the High Court has stayed the proceedings in the first-class judicial magistrate’s court in Perumbavoor for a period of 6 months on the petition of the actor.

Earlier, the Perumbavoor court dismissed the government’s plea to withdraw the case. The court also ordered that Mohanlal and all other accused must face the trial and appear in person on November 3.

In the petition, the state government argued that this was not a matter of public interest.

However, the magistrate court accepted the argument of the petitioners that the government can’t take a decision on behalf of an individual.

Mohanlal claimed that the elephant tusks were given to him as a gift.

In 2011, during an income tax department inspection, elephant tusks were seized from the actor’s house in Kochi. He was charged under the Wildlife (Protection) Act.

Later, the case was transferred to the Forest Department, which filed a charge sheet against the actor in 2019.