Shwetha Menon has obtained relief from the Kerala High Court after the court quashed criminal proceedings against her over allegations that she acted in obscene films and advertisements for financial gain. Justice CS Dias granted the actress’s plea seeking quashing of the First Information Report (FIR) and all related criminal proceedings against her.
Shwetha Menon has obtained relief from the Kerala High Court after the court quashed criminal proceedings against her over allegations that she acted in obscene films and advertisements for financial gain.Justice CS Dias granted the actress’s plea seeking quashing of the First Information Report (FIR) and all related criminal proceedings against her.
The court finds no crime
While examining the complaint, the court observed that even if the allegations were accepted at face value, they did not constitute offenses under Section 67A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which deals with dissemination of sexually explicit material in electronic form, or under Sections 3 and 5 of the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, 1956.The court said the case was valid to invoke its inherent powers and terminate the proceedings.“I am satisfied that this is a proper case to exercise the inherent powers of this court under Section 528 of BNSS. In the above circumstances, I allow the criminal MC to quash the complaint, FIR and all other proceedings in the offence,” the court said as reported by the Bar and Bench newspaper.
The court notes that the complaint may have been filed with an ulterior motive
The court also took note of Menon’s argument that the complaint had been filed with the aim of damaging her reputation.
Her lawyer pointed out that the case was filed soon after the actress decided to contest the election for the post of president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA). Menon was later elected to the position.According to her legal team, the complaint was frivolous and aimed to prevent her from running in the elections and tarnish her public image.
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The complaint alleged vulgar and obscene content
The FIR was registered after the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court referred a complaint filed by Martin Meenachery to the police.The complainant alleged that Menon should face criminal proceedings for appearing in films and advertisements supposedly containing vulgar and obscene content. He further claimed that such images were circulated on social media and adult websites to gain popularity and financial benefits.
The actress described the allegations as baseless
However, Menon maintained that the case is completely baseless and part of a motivated attempt to damage her reputation.It said the films mentioned in the complaint, including Palleri Manikyam, Rathinirvedham and Kalimannu, were legally released and received certification from the censor board.The actress also highlighted that her performance in Paleri Mankyam earned her the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress.Menon denied any involvement in pornographic websites and said the allegations were defamatory and were made without any supporting evidence.The Supreme Court had earlier stayed the criminal proceedings and, in its latest order, has now quashed the complaint, FIR and all related proceedings against the actress.
