Magistrate court directs police to investigate actor Ansiba Hassan’s petition against Lakshmi Priya
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The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Ernakulam, has directed the Kochi City police to investigate a private complaint filed by actor and Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) member Ansiba Hassan against actor Lakshmi Priya and representatives of CAN Channel for allegedly publishing and disseminating videos containing false and sexually coloured allegations against her through various social media platforms, with the intention of outraging her modesty.
Magistrate Shana Beegam forwarded the complaint filed by Ms. Hassan to the police for a proper investigation under Section 175(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). The petitioner alleged that the accused, by creating and circulating sexually coloured videos targeting her on social media, had committed offences punishable under Sections 75(4) (sexual harassment), 79 (insulting the modesty of a woman), and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, and Section 119(a) (atrocities against women) of the Kerala Police Act.
She sought the registration of a first information report against the accused, including Ms. Lakshmi Priya, Sukumar, owner of CAN Channel, and Suresh, who interviewed Ms. Priya.
The magistrate observed that the entire digital content would have to be collected and examined to determine whether the alleged offences were made out. Prima facie, the circumstances alleged in the complaint suggested that a conspiracy had been hatched among the parties against the petitioner to tarnish her dignity. The petitioner’s counsel contended that, following the release of the trailer of the video, two other lengthy videos had been published and disseminated through the same channel, which the petitioner was unable to collect. Hence, a police investigation was highly necessary, the magistrate observed.
The court reconsidered the petition pursuant to a direction issued by the Kerala High Court. The Station House Officer of the Palarivattom police station submitted that an FIR had not been registered because a preliminary inquiry had found grounds only for defamation.
The complainant also raised suspicions regarding the possible involvement of AMMA president Shwetha Menon in the dissemination of the impugned content. According to the complaint, Ms. Lakshmi Priya had referred to the president in the impugned video, and the manner in which her name was referred to in conjunction with the highly offensive content directed against the petitioner gives rise to a reasonable suspicion warranting investigation. The petitioner further alleged that the president had contacted certain social media influencers to propagate a false narrative against her. She also alleged that the respondent had used the president’s hashtag in the impugned video, giving rise to additional suspicion regarding her possible involvement.
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