The Kerala High Court on Friday granted interim protection from arrest till October 30 for Malayalam dubbing artist Bhagyalakshmi and two women activists accused of assaulting a YouTuber who had allegedly uploaded a video abusive of women.
When anticipatory bail pleas filed by Bhagyalakshmi and activists Diya Sana and Sreelakshmi Arakkal came up for hearing, the court restrained the police from arresting them till October 30 and reserved orders on their petitions. However, the bench headed by Justice Ashok Menon observed that vigilantism cannot be encouraged, while reserving orders on the anticipatory bail pleas.
The bench said that it was improper 'to take law into own hands, even if the other person has said the nastiest things.'
The public prosecutor in the case submitted that the accused women had posted incriminating videos of them assaulting the man and that granting them bail 'will send a wrong message to society'. He also added that the accused should surrender and cooperate wih the investigation. To this the bench replied that 'probably the accused did not have faith in the police and decided to do it themselves.'
The police in Thiruvananthapuram have booked the three under various sections of IPC on the basis of a complaint filed by YouTuber Vijayan P Nair accusing them of thrashing him and threatening him with dire consequences after trespassing into his room in a lodge on September 26.
The dubbing artist and two women activists moved the high court seeking anticipatory bail after a sessions court in Thiruvananthapuram rejected the same on October 9.
In their plea, they submitted that Nair had published an abusive video in the YouTube channel levelling allegations against Bhagyalakshmi and some others.
The video has been circulated throughout the internet and has been watched by millions of people, they said.
Bhagyalakshmi's friends, her children and near relatives have also seen the video and that affected their family relationship.
Rejecting the charges against them, the women claimed that they were invited by Nair and hence there was no criminal trespass.
The women had allegedly attacked Nair for his derogatory video against women and uploading them online.