Kerala High Court grants interim relief to actor Balachandra Menon in sexual assault case

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday granted interim relief to actor and filmmaker Balachandra Menon in a sexual assault case registered against him last month in connection with an incident that allegedly took place in 2007 [Balachandra Menon v State of Kerala & ors]..Justice CS Dias noted that there was an unexplained delay in filing the First Information Report (FIR). He opined that a prima facie case had been made out for granting interim relief. Therefore, the Court ordered the police to release Menon on bail if at all he is arrested. The said order will be effective till November 21, when the Court will hear Menon's anticipatory bail plea next. "On a consideration of the facts and materials placed on record, particularly taking note of the fact that the alleged incident occurred between 12.01.2007 and 21.01.2007, but Annexure A2 FIR is registered only on 30.09.2024, and prima facie there is no plausible explanation for the inordinate delay ... I am satisfied that the petitioner (Menon) has made out a prima facie case for an interim order," the Court reasoned. .The FIR against Balachandra Menon cites Sections 354 (outraging modesty of woman), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (insult to the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The complainant has alleged that Menon engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct towards her during the filming of his movie “De Ingottu Nokkiye” in 2007.In his anticipatory bail plea, Menon has counter-alleged that he had received threatening calls from the complainant and her lawyer and that he had also alerted the authorities about these alleged attempts to blackmail and harass him. A case has been registered as well on his complaint under Section 351 of the Bharatiya Nayaya Sanhita (BNS) which deals with criminal intimidation and provisions of the Information Technology Act. He has asserted that the allegations levelled against him are purely to aimed at tarnishing his reputation and to extort money from him..Menon's counsel stressed that there was no evidence to substantiate the alleged incidents from 2007 and argued that the custodial interrogation of the petitioner was not necessary.The Public Prosecutor opposed the bail plea, urging the Court to allow time for the Investigating Officer to file a report.However, after hearing these preliminary arguments, the Court yesterday granted interim relief to Menon till November 21. Senior counsel M Ramesh Chander along with advocates Bejoy Joseph PJ, Govind G Nair, Balu Tom, and Bonny Benny represented Balachandra Menon..Balachandra Menon is one among the many prominent Malayalam film industry figures accused of sexual harassment and allied offences after the release of the Justice K Hema Committee Report on women’s working conditions in Mollywood.The report was made public in a redacted form in August this year and indicated that there was widespread sexual abuse and casting couch practices prevalent in the Malayalam film industry. The report's release had prompted several women to come forward with serious allegations against various actors and filmmakers..[Read Order]