Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Friday quashed a sexual assault case filed by an aspiring actor against Malayalam filmmaker Ranjith Balakrishnan.
The decision was delivered by a bench headed by Justice S. R. Krishna Kumar after the filmmaker’s legal team highlighted factual inconsistencies in the complaint.
Senior advocate Prabhuling Navadgi argued that the case was baseless. He pointed out that the incident was alleged to have occurred in 2012 at the Taj Hotel near Bengaluru International Airport — a property that opened only in 2016.
According to the complainant, the filmmaker allegedly invited him to the fourth floor of the Taj Hotel and forced him to engage in unnatural sex. It was also alleged that nude photographs of the complainant were taken and sent to an actress in Kerala.
Ranjith was booked under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66(E) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. He later petitioned the Karnataka High Court to quash the FIR against him.
Earlier, a stay on the criminal proceedings had been granted by a bench led by Justice M. Nagaprasanna, who pointed to significant discrepancies in the complaint.
The bench also took note of the unusually long delay in filing the case. Justice Nagaprasanna observed that the complaint was registered in 2024, despite the alleged incident taking place in 2012 — a 12-year gap with no explanation provided.
Taking all these factors into consideration, the court concluded that the matter was “a classic example of a false complaint”.
The filmmaker maintained that the allegations against him were baseless and concocted with malicious intent.
Ranjith is among several prominent figures in the Malayalam film industry to face allegations of sexual misconduct following the release of the Justice K. Hema Committee report, which documented troubling conditions for women in the Kerala film industry.
(inputs from IANS)