The Kalamassery police have registered a suo motu case in the incident in which two men allegedly misbehaved with a young woman actor while she was out shopping with her family at Lulu mall at Edappally on Thursday evening.
The incident came to light after the victim made a social media post about her harrowing experience late on Thursday night.
“Though we have not yet received a complaint from the actor, we have registered a suo motu case based on her social media post. We have examined the CCTV footage in the mall and found her allegations to be true based on which a case has been registered invoking IPC Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty),” said P.R. Santhosh, Station House Officer, Kalamassery.
Police have taken possession of the CCTV footage and a probe has been launched to track down the perpetrators.
The Kerala State Women’s Commission has also registered a suo motu case in the incident. M.C. Josephine, the chairperson of the Commission, condemned the incident and said that evidence would be collected from the actor on Saturday.
In her social media post, the actor explained how two men walked past her in a generously spacious aisle in the Lulu hypermarket, which barely had people crowding, and one of them “not so accidentally grazed his hand” on her back while walking past her. “Because it caught me off guard, I could not react immediately. I wanted to give him the benefit of doubt but you know when something is just not right, you feel it,” the actor said in her post.
She further alleged that the men followed her and tried to chat up asking about her films and left only on seeing her mother approaching.
Meanwhile, the Kerala State Youth Commission also registered a suo motu case and sought an immediate report from the police. The commission also pledged all support to the actor to go ahead with the case.
