Actor Arjun Sarja, who was called out during the #MeToo movement by Sruthi Hariharan, has been granted interim relief by the Bengaluru High Court, which instructed the police to not arrest the actor until December 11 when the case will be heard next. The actor moved the court after the Cubbon Park police registered an FIR based on the actress’s complaint, said reports.
Sruti Hariharan had filed a complaint under sections 354 354A, 506 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code and alleged that the actor had touched her inappropriately during the shoot of the 2017 Kannada movie Vismaya.
In her complaint, the actress said, “I took exception to Arjun’s inappropriate behaviour at the rehearsal. I silently suffered and was unable to express as I was an upcoming artiste while he was a senior, with clout in the industry and power corridors.”
Section 354 relates to assault or exerting force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty; 506 is about punishment for criminal intimidation while 509 refers to word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, D Devaraj was quoted as saying, “The main content of it is that he misbehaved with her. We will investigate all the aspects mentioned in the complaint.”
Earlier, the actress had put out a Facebook post where she described the entire incident in detail and said that “Sarja needs to make sure he doesn’t cross the thin line between two actors and use his position of power to cause another person discomfort.”
The #metoo movement has made many of us comfortable with sharing our uncomfortable realities! This movement has…
Posted by Sruthi Hariharan on Friday, October 19, 2018
Following this, Arjun Sarja had filed a Rs 5 crore defamation case against Hariharan at the Bengaluru Civil Court. The actor had refuted Hariharan’s claims saying “The allegations being levelled against me are entirely baseless. I am shocked to hear it.”
Arun Vaidyanathan, the director of Vismaya had come out with his own version of the incident through a Facebook post.
Arjun sir and Sruthi Hariharan, both are my good friends and I know their families too very well. Regarding Arjun…
Posted by Arun Vaidyanathan on Saturday, October 20, 2018
