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The Kerala High Court has quashed the sexual harassment case against writer-director Ranjith Balakrishnan, filed by a Bengali woman actor. The court order, which came on Monday, October 27, pointed out the “significant delay” in filing the complaint.
The case was registered against Ranjith on August 26, 2024, after the woman actor filed a police complaint against him for allegedly sexually harassing her in the year 2009. She had spoken out about the incident before the media after the publication of the Hema Committee report, which detailed the issues faced by women in Malayalam cinema.
The actor sent her complaint to the Kochi Commissioner of Police in August 2024, describing the incident that allegedly took place when she visited Kochi for a discussion related to the film Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha. Following this, Ranjith had resigned from his post as chairperson of the Kerala Chalachitra Academy.
Later, a first information report was registered against him under Indian Penal Code Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).
Allowing Ranjith’s petition to quash the proceedings against him, Justice C Pratheep Kumar observed, “Since the maximum punishment provided for the offence under Section 368 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code as on the date of the offence was only two years, and as per Section 468 of Criminal Procedure Code, the period of limitation was only three years from the date of commission of the offence, the learned Magistrate was not justified in taking cognisance of the offence after a period of more than 15 years.”