Thrissur: The Human Rights Commission on Friday took suo motu cognizance of alleged colour-tinged casteist remarks by renowned classical dancer Kalamandalam Sathyabhama against RLV Ramakrishnan.

Ramakrishnan, the brother of the late Malayalam actor Kalabhavan Mani, is an MPhil top scorer in Performing Arts and a PhD graduate in Mohiniyattam from the Kerala Kalamandalam. Sathyabhama, in an interview given on a YouTube channel, said it was annoying to see men performing Mohiniyattam. She added that Ramakrishnan had the “colour of a crow”.

Upon registering the case, Commission member V K Beena Kumari demanded that a report should be submitted within fifteen days by both the Thrissur district police chief and the Culture department’s government secretary. The order was issued considering the media reports on Sathyabhama’s remarks on Ramakrishnan.

Moreover, human rights activist Guinness Madasamy has filed a separate complaint concerning the issue. Ramakrishnan also expressed to lodge a complaint before Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and sought legal aid for a potential defamation case.

Meanwhile, actor and Thrissur BJP candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Suresh Gopi, invited Ramakrishnan for a performance at Gopi’s ancestral temple in Kollam. As the controversy still steers up, Sathyabhama has not yet conveyed an apology for her comments.