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Senior leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and former Keralam ministers KK Shailaja and V Sivankutty extended support to Malayalam actor Manju Warrier after she filed a defamation case against filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan. Both political leaders strongly condemned the ongoing “character assassination” and “mental harassment” faced by Manju.
“The attacks being carried out against Manju Warrier by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan are reprehensible. Her life is not something to be left at the mercy of the utterances of someone behaving in a deeply disturbed manner. The government must take strong action against such individuals,” KK Shailaja wrote on Facebook, extending support to the legal battle being pursued by Manju.
V Sivankutty said that no one has the right to interfere with a woman’s fundamental right to choose her own life and convictions. “This campaign, carried out through fabricated narratives and digital platforms with the intention of destroying decades of hard work, amounts to character assassination and severe mental harassment. Society must stand united, beyond partisan political differences, against this misogynistic injustice,” he wrote on Facebook.
On September 19, Manju filed a defamation suit at the Ernakulam Munsiff Court against Sanal Kumar, YouTuber Shajan Skariah, and Meta, seeking to remove defamatory social media posts against her. She also asked the court to restrain further derogatory statements against her.
Following her suit, the court issued an interim injunction and summoned Sanal Kumar, Meta, and Shajan Skariah.
Her suit stemmed from Sanal Kumar’s recent launch of an indefinite hunger strike outside the Keralam Secretariat, claiming that Manju is under the control of certain “rackets”, and calling for her to be freed from their influence.
Sanal has previously faced police action following complaints by Manju Warrier. In September 2025, he was detained at the Mumbai airport after Kerala Police issued a lookout notice in connection with a harassment case filed by the actor. He had also been arrested in May 2022 in a separate case alleging online stalking of Manju and was later granted bail.