Indian star acquitted in high-profile rape, abduction case

Dileep (left) and Ratheesh Raghunandan (right) are seen on a film set in Aug. 2023. (Erfanebrahimsait via Wikimedia Commons)

An Indian court on Monday acquitted a film star of criminal charges over accusations he was involved in a high-profile case of the rape and abduction of an actress.

Several others were convicted the same day in relation to the case, which rocked South India’s Malayalam-language Mollywood film industry in 2017 and led to an investigation of allegations of rampant sexual harassment in a sector dominated by powerful men.

Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan, the Kerala-based Mollywood actor better known by his stage name Dileep, was arrested in 2017 for allegedly orchestrating the assault, though he denied the charges.

He was imprisoned for three months before being released on bail.

Judge Honey M. Varghese announced the verdict in a trial court in southern Kerala state on Monday, acquitting Dileep while convicting six others of rape, conspiracy, abduction and other offences, Live Law legal news media outlet reported.

“The real conspiracy was against me,” Dileep, 58, told reporters after the verdict in comments broadcast by local media.

The survivor, whose name has been withheld under Indian law, can challenge the verdict in a higher court.

The actress was travelling in a car to dub for a film when she was kidnapped and assaulted, according to local media reports.

Mollywood is known for critically acclaimed films with strong and progressive themes, in contrast to the dance and song numbers of India’s giant Hindi-language Bollywood, based in Mumbai.

Dileep became one of the leading box-office draws in Malayalam cinema in the 2000s, with films like “Meesa Madhavan.”

The industry is prolific, producing up to 200 films a year, and loved not only by southern India’s 37 million Malayalam speakers, but also dubbed and streamed across the rest of India and abroad.

After the case came to light, the state government set up a panel to investigate gender bias, sexual harassment and other issues plaguing Malayalam cinema.

Bina Paul, film editor and co-founder of the campaign group Women in Cinema Collective, said the verdict was not “unexpected”.

“Situations like this make you understand this is not an easy fight,” she told AFP.

“The judgement tells you, in general, about the treatment of women and will have repercussions on how and if women decide to come forward with their stories.”

The state government-appointed panel last year released a report which said women actors faced the widespread “worst evil” of sexual harassment.

Those who considered speaking out about sexual assault were silenced by threats to their life, and to their families, the report added.