The Kerala Police have registered a case against Malayalam film actor–producer Vijay Babu for allegedly sexually assaulting a female actor. Hours after the case was registered against him, Babu claimed innocence and said he is the real victim of the case as he revealed the woman’s name in a Facebook live.
The police said the actor alleged in a complaint with the Kochi police on April 22 that Babu had sexually abused her several times promising roles in his films. She alleged that Babu had raped her at his flat in Kochi.
Babu said he had known the woman since 2018 and given her a chance to act in his productions after the audition. “She sent several messages to me saying that she was suffering from depression. I have around 400 screenshots of those messages. I haven’t sent any messages to that woman for the last one-and-a-half years,’’ he said.
Babu said that he would move a complaint against the actor for tarnishing his image. “I would file a defamation case against the complainant. Let it be the beginning of a new ‘Me Too’. Let us start a new fight,’’ he said.
Babu, who has been active in the film industry for over a decade, is the founder of film production company Friday Film House and has six productions to his credit.
The rape charge against the actor-cum-producer came up at a time the Malayalam film industry is facing several similar allegations. Last month, the police had arrested filmmaker Liju Krishna on charges of allegedly sexually abusing a woman, who had assisted in his productions. Following the arrest, the directors’ union under the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) revoked Krishna’s membership even as the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) demanded his suspension from all film bodies.
Last month, Kerala High Court had asked organisations associated with the film industry to take steps to constitute a joint committee to deal with cases of sexual harassment of women, in line with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
Ruling on a clutch of petitions which urged the court to ask the state government to inquire into compliance with provisions of the Act, the court recommended that the production unit of each film industry maintain an internal complaints committee (ICC) if they are engaging more than 10 workers.
The WCC, which was the petitioner, pointed out that the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) had failed to implement a grievance redressal mechanism for its members against sexual harassment at workplace and this was a breach of the Supreme Court’s Vishaka Guidelines violation of provisions of the 2013 Act.
The WCC took up the matter with the court in the wake of the case pertaining to the abduction and sexual assault of a female actor in 2017, in which popular actor Dileep is one of the accused in the case. The prosecution stated that Dileep had conspired behind the abduction and assault and the trial in the case is going on in a special court in Kochi.
Bureau Report
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