Main accused in Kerala actor assault case released on bail

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Kerala court has granted bail to the first accused in the sexual assault case of a Kerala actor. He walked out of jail on Friday evening.

The Ernakulam Central Magistrate Court on Friday granted bail to Pulsar Suni, the main accused in the 2017 actor assault case. The bail comes with strict conditions, including use of only one SIM card, a ban on travelling outside the judicial precinct, no communication with other accused in the case, no attempt to influence witnesses and a ban on media interaction.

The Supreme Court had already released Pulsar Suni on bail on September 17 and directed the court to determine the final conditions of his release.

Suni, who has been in custody since February 2017, is accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a well-known Malayalam film actress, allegedly under the direction of actor Dileep, a co-accused in the case. Earlier, Suni had claimed that Dileep had orchestrated the crime.

On the night of February 17, 2017, the Malayalam actress was reportedly attacked in her car for two hours by people who forcibly entered the vehicle. The group fled after the incident, which created an uproar across the state, especially in the Malayalam film industry.

The entire attack was filmed by the gang in order to blackmail the actress.

There are ten accused in this sensational case, including actor Dileep. The investigation team had earlier arrested Dileep after he was allegedly linked to the criminal gang. The case of the actor's assault sparked significant protests from a group of women from the Malayalam film industry. This horrific incident led to the formation of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), which submitted a petition to the Chief Minister, drawing his attention to the challenges faced by women in the film industry.

At the initiative of the WCC, the Hema Committee was set up to investigate the problems in detail and submit a comprehensive report to the government. The report was only recently made public and caused great excitement.

Cases of rape and sexual assault have been registered against several Malayalam film stars, including actors Siddique, Mukesh, Maniyanpillai Raju, Edavela Babu and director Ranjith, based on complaints from female actresses. Pulsar Suni first sought bail in the Kerala High Court in March 2022, which was rejected.

He appealed to the Supreme Court, which denied bail in July 2022.

Due to the seriousness of the charges, HC rejected the second bail application in March 2023.

On April 23, the Supreme Court again denied bail.

On June 3, the Supreme Court rejected his tenth bail application.