Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala police will interrogate Malayalam actor Jayasurya on Tuesday in connection with a rape case filed by an Aluva-based female colleague. He was instructed to report to the Cantonment police station in Thiruvananthapuram at 10 am for questioning. The actor faces charges of sexual harassment and outraging the modesty of women in two separate cases.
Earlier on September 23, the Kerala High Court closed Jayasurya’s bail petitions in both cases, noting that the alleged incidents happened before 2013 and involved only bailable offences. The court also reserved the petitioner's right to seek legal recourse. Therefore, even if the police record an arrest of the actor on Tuesday, he will be released afterwards.
The charges against the actor include sections 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman), 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking), and 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The first case was registered by the Cantonment police, where the FIR stated that Jayasurya sexually assaulted the complainant during the shooting of the film ‘De Ingottu Nokkiye’ at the Kerala Secretariat in 2008. The second case involved allegations from a Thiruvananthapuram-based female colleague, who claimed that the actor harassed her on a film set in Thodupuzha.
These accusations have surfaced in the context of the Hema Committee report release, which has brought to light multiple sexual assault allegations within the Malayalam film industry. In response, the Kerala government appointed a seven-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe the claims.