Following actor Dileep’s complaint, Kerala police have registered five FIRs against the Malayalam news channel Reporter TV and its head Nikesh Kumar for reporting on the female actor abduction and sexual assault case, according to The News Minute.
The action has been initiated by the police after the Kerala High Court directed them to investigate the allegations raised by Dileep that Reporter TV and other media outlets had violated the trial court’s gag order restricting the reporting of case proceedings.
Dileep is the eighth accused and the alleged mastermind behind the female actor abduction and sexual assault, which happened in February 2017. The case has been in courts for five years now.
Recently, in January, the actor moved the High Court seeking to restrain media coverage of the trial. In his petition against the state’s police chief, the investigating officer and a private television news organisation, Dileep accused the prosecution and the investigation team of creating negative public sentiment against him through a media trial. The HC then granted his plea and passed an order restricting the media from reporting on the court proceedings until the final verdict.
On January 18, Dileep alleged in a petition to the HC that Reporter TV and journalist Nikesh Kumar had violated the gag order. In response, the court ordered the police to enquire into the allegations and submit a report in two weeks.
Following this, FIRs were filed by the Cyber Crime police department of Kochi. According to the TNM report, the first FIR is regarding a story published on the Reporter’s online portal about the alleged suicide attempt of a female actor who was a witness in the case. The second and third FIRs are for a video report featuring Jinson, a witness and former cell-mate of the main accused Pulsar Suni. The fourth and fifth FIRs are about debates hosted by Nikesh on Reporter TV, featuring filmmaker Balachandra Kumar, whose recent allegations brought the case back into the limelight.
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All the cases have been filed under section 228A(3), which deals with the publishing of matters concerning rape without prior permission of the court.
Earlier, in 2020, it may be noted that Dileep had moved the Special Court handling the female actor assault case against the “illegal act of publishing matters in relation to the in-camera proceedings in the case.” He argued that the publication of the matter was calculated to injure his reputation and violate his fundamental right to a fair trial. He had named 10 media houses as respondents at the time.
For a full timeline of the female actor abduction and assault case, see here.