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Kochi: The Kerala High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against noted Malayalam film director Ranjith in a case alleging that he attempted to outrage the modesty of an actress during a meeting in 2009.
The FIR, filed in August 2024, accused Ranjith of inappropriately holding the actress’s hand and attempting to touch her with sexual intent at his apartment under the pretext of a movie discussion.
He was booked under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code.
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Justice C. Pratheep Kumar allowed Ranjith’s plea to quash the proceedings pending before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Ernakulam, holding that the case was barred by limitation.
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The court noted that, as per the law prevailing in 2009, the maximum punishment for the alleged offences was two years, and under Section 468 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the limitation period for taking cognisance was three years.
“The learned Magistrate was not justified in taking cognisance of the offence after a period of more than 15 years. In the above circumstances, the proceedings against the petitioner are liable to be quashed by invoking the power under Section 528 of the BNSS,” the court observed.
The high court also referred to the precedent set in Johnson Alexander v. State by CBI (Crl. A. No. 1478/2010) in arriving at its conclusion.
Earlier, the court had closed Ranjith’s anticipatory bail petition, noting that the alleged offence was bailable at the time of occurrence.
With this order, all pending proceedings against the director in connection with the 2009 incident stand terminated.
Soon after this allegation surfaced, Ranjith, a hugely successful director, producer, writer and actor, quit as Chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy and, since then, has remained out of public eye.
