Vijay Babu, Malayalam actor and producer accused of sexually assaulting a fellow actor, has attended the general body meeting of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (A.M.M.A.) on the morning of Sunday, June 26, in Kochi. Visuals of him coming out of a car and rushing into the venue were caught on camera. Vijay, who was an executive committee member of the association, had earlier written to the A.M.M.A. saying that he would stay away from it until he was proven innocent of the charges against him. He is currently on pre-arrest bail in the case.
It was in the last week of April that Vijay Babu's name came out in a case of sexual assault of a young woman actor, who lodged a complaint against him at a police station in Kochi. Vijay, who was then in Dubai, came live on a video on his social media page, and while claiming his innocence, went on to name the woman actor, against the law. It took him weeks to come back to Kochi from Dubai, and only after he was assured an anticipatory bail by a court on arrival. The police had even issued a lookout notice against the actor.
In the meantime, three members of the newly constituted Internal Committee of A.M.M.A. resigned, disappointed at the association's delay and reluctance in taking action against the accused man.
Watch: Interview of Maala Parvathi, who resigned from IC of A.M.M.A.
After a meeting of the A.M.M.A. members in May, during which the IC members exerted a lot of pressure for action against Vijay, the accused actor had sent a letter to the association offering to stay away from the executive committee. A.M.M.A. on its own was unwilling to pronounce any action, and this led to the resignation of Maala Parvathi, followed by Kukku Parameswaran and Shwetha Menon, three of the four members of the IC that the association had formed in March this year.