Kochi: The Kerala police have arrested a college student after award-winning actress Parvathy filed a complaint that she was abused and viciously trolled on social media for terming as 'misogynistic' some dialogs in Mammootty-starrer Kasaba,
Kollam native Rojan was arrested for sending a rape threat message to the actress via Instagram.
On Wednesday, the police had arrested Printo from Wadakkancherry in Thrissur district for starting a smear campaign against the actress. The 23-year-old was charged under IPC sections 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) and 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).
He was also charged under various provisions of the Information Technology Act including section 67 (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form), the police said.
At an open forum organized on the sidelines of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) recently, she voiced her opinion against glorifying misogyny on screen and expressed concern about the absence of women's perspective in cinema. To prove her point, Parvathy said she had recently watched Kasaba.
Though she did not mention the actor's name, she said the film had disappointed her as it featured a great actor mouthing 'misogynistic dialogs.'
She had also said such kind of dialogs from a superstar would give a wrong impression to people.
The Take Off actress was trolled and abused on various online platforms after her comments. She then filed the complaint with state police chief Loknath Behera along with the screenshots of the trolling Tuesday.
What Mammootty said
After the vicious trolls by his so-called fans, Malayalam superstar Mammootty said he had not entrusted anyone with the task of defending him. In an exclusive interview to Manoramaonline, Mammootty said he had spoken to Parvathy after the row erupted and that the freedom of opinion was as important as freedom of expression.
Several people, including Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, had come out in Parvathy's support on the issue.
Condemning the online attacks, Kerala finance minister Thomas Isaac had tweeted that they were deplorable and praised her for making Kerala proud by winning the best actress award at the IFFI.
Parvathy is known for a variety of roles in various languages, including Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi.
She has also secured the Kerala State Film Award for the best actress.
(With inputs from PTI)
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