Sanusha has worked in several South Indian movies and TV shows.
On Monday we heard of South Indian actor Amala Paul filing a police complaint against a man who asked for ‘sexual favours’ from her at her workplace and now it is Malayalam actor Sanusha Santosh who has acted against her violator. The 23-year-old actor was molested while she was travelling on Maveli Express, a train that runs between Mangaluru Central and Thiruvananthapuram. Sanusha not only raised her voice, she also held onto the molester until help arrived.
It so happened that Sanusha was sleeping on the upper berth of the train and in the wee hours she woke up to a man’s hand on her lips. But as she tried to call for help, barely anyone came up. Narrating the incident to NDTV, Sanusha said, “I opened my eyes as I felt something against my lips. I was shocked to see a man’s hand. I held on to his hand and twisted his fingers. I tried reaching out to a person in the berth below me for help but he didn’t bother. I was shouting but no one cared to respond. This happened around 1.10 am. Just two people, scriptwriter Unni and another passenger, Renjith, came forward to help.”
Sanusha who has acted in some South Indian movies and TV shows showed courage and didn’t let the molester move while the scriptwriter Unni and another passenger went away to look for TTE (Train Ticket Examiner). “Once the TTE came and got the information, he called the next railway station and the railway police were informed. When we reached Thrissur half an hour later, the railway police arrested him. I gave my statement and continued my journey to Thiruvananthapuram in the same train,” said Sanusha.
In her another interview, Sanusha pointed out the hypocrisy of people who only express their outrage on social media and care the least in real life. Disheartened about nobody turning up for help, she said, “I think people’s protest and outrage begin and end on Facebook. But when you’re confronted with a real-life situation, nobody cares or reacts.” Adding to it she said, “Probably if I had put up a status on Facebook, there would have been many more people showing support, saying “I’m with Sanusha” and changing their display pictures. However, as a woman I want members of the community to stand up for me at times when such incidents happen, not just later on social media. It is really disheartening and I have lost faith in the society.”
An FIR has been filed under IPC section 354 and the accused has been sent to custody for 14 days.