Kerala government drops plan to challenge MLA Mukesh's provisional release in court

Thiruvananthapuram: In a bid to protect Kollam MP Mukesh, the LDF government in Kerala has decided not to appeal against the court order granting interim bail to the actor-turned-politician in a rape case. Earlier, the government had planned to approach the Supreme Court and appeal against the lower court order.

But now the government is claiming that there is no point in appealing against the bail granted to the MP. Manorama News reported that the prosecution had rejected the Special Investigation Team's request to appeal against the court order. It was learnt that the prosecution was acting on the instructions of the Home Ministry.

Manorama News reported that discrepancies in the complainant's statement forced the government to take a stand in favour of Mukesh. At the same time, the complainant can appeal against the interim bail granted to the accused. A Kochi court granted interim bail to Mukesh in the rape case while examining his confession on Tuesday.

The rape allegations against Mukesh were made by an actress, who also accused actors Babu and Jayasurya and others of sexual harassment. Following the woman's allegation, an FIR was filed under Section 376 (rape) of the IPC against Mukesh, who claimed that the charges against him were due to his failure to give in to the complainant's attempts at extortion.

Several FIRs have been filed against many well-known Malayalam film stars following allegations of sexual harassment against various directors and actors in the wake of revelations in the Justice K Hema Committee report. The committee was set up by the Kerala government following the 2017 actress assault case and its report which exposed cases of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam film industry. Following the allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation against several actors and directors, the state government on August 25 announced the setting up of a seven-member special investigation team to probe them.