Comments against actress: Women's Commission books Dileep, others

State Women's Commission booked case against Dileep, Aju Varghese and Salim Kumar and producer-director Saji Nandyat  Case was registered after a complaint filed by Women Lawyer's Association and Women's Collective in Cinema Dileep had said that the actress and prime accused were friends and one should be careful while selecting friends

Kerala Women's Commission has registered a case against actor Dileep and three others over the alleged comments against the actress who was abducted and attacked earlier this year. The case was filed after a complaint filed by Women Lawyer's Association and Women's Collective in Cinema (WCC).

"We have registered the case, and evidence collection will begin soon," Women's Commission director V U Kuriakose said. 

The case related to certain comments made by Dileep, Salim Kumar, Aju Joseph and producer-distributor Saji Nandyat on social media sites. Dileep has said that the actress and the main accused were close friends and one should be careful while selecting friends. Following this, the actress issued a statement warning legal action against Dileep. 

Aju Varghese had mentioned the name of the actress in his Facebook post while Salim Kumar said that the incident was part of a script written to derail Dileep's personal life. He also said that the actress should be made to undergo lie-detection test to ascertain the truth. 

The WCC, an outfit of women members of the Malayalam film industry, had on July 5 claimed that "casting couch"--the practice of giving roles in exchange for sexual favour existed in the industry and sought a probe by the Kerala Women's Commission.

In a Facebook post, WCC had stated that they "totally disagreed" with a remark of the President of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), Innocent, an MP, that the "casting couch" practice was a thing of the past.

Meanwhile, the National Women's Commission has directed the state DGP to file a report within two days on the attack against the actress.

NWC member Sushma Sahu also criticised Innocent over his "anti-women" remarks and said they were "shameful".

Six persons, including 'Pulsar' Suni, Martin and Vigeesh have so far been arrested in connection with the incident.

The popular actress, who has worked in Tamil and Telugu films, was abducted and allegedly molested inside her car for two hours by the accused, who had forced their way into the vehicle on February 17 and later escaped in a busy area in Kochi.

(With inputs from PTI)