The constitution of a trust named the Avalkoppam Legal Support Trust, aimed to support the survivor of the 2017 actor assault case, was announced in Kozhikode on Monday, April 27. In a press meeting, senior activist K Ajitha, writer and academic Deedi Damodaran, and dubbing artist and author Bhagyalakshmi, among others, said that the motivation for the trust is the 2017 incident, in which a Malayali woman actor was sexually assaulted in a moving car in Kochi.
“People worldover have asked us why the survivor in the actor assault case could not have a better team of lawyers. Many of them told us they were willing to contribute financially, urging us to form a trust for mobilising money. The Avalkoppam Legal Support Trust is a result of that,” said Bhagyalakshmi.
She was referring to the Ernakulam District and Sessions Court verdict of December 8, 2025, pronouncing six men–Pulsar Suni, Martin Antony, R Manikantan, VP Vijesh, H Salim and Pradeep–guilty. However, though the court said there is a conspiracy in the case, actor Dileep, who was accused of masterminding the kidnapping and sexual assault of the woman actor, was acquitted.
People also took to social media and the streets to protest the verdict, under the campaign slogan ‘Avalkoppam’, which means ‘with her’.The term was first used by the Women In Cinema Collective (WCC) in the aftermath of the 2017 actor assault to express solidarity with the survivor.
The survivor herself stated that she had lost faith in the trial court early on, and posted six reasons why she felt that justice had been denied.
“It is the responsibility of society to stand with the survivor. That is why we have decided to form this trust to bring in lawyers from the Supreme Court. They will help the survivor go to court about the change in the hash value of the assault visuals while in judicial custody,” said Ajitha.
Calling the actor assault case “rarest of rare”, where a man was hired to rape the survivor, Bhagyalakshmi further said at the Kozhikode press meet that the Avalkoppam trust is for the numerous survivors who may be finding it difficult to navigate the financial burden of fighting sexual assault and rape cases in court.
When asked about the working limits of the Trust, K Ajitha said that anyone within India can approach the Trust.