"She is being harassed unnecessarily": Kerala High Court on cheating case against Sunny Leone

The Kerala High Court on Thursday said that it is inclined to quash the criminal proceedings against actress Sunny Leone (Karanjit Kaur Vohra), and her husband Daniel Weber and an employee of Leone in a cheating case registered against them [Karanjit Kaur Vohra & Ors. v State of Kerala & Anr.].Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas orally remarked that there seemed to be no criminal offence made out against Leone and that she was being unnecessarily harassed. "What is the criminal offense in this? You are unnecessarily harassing the person (Sunny Leone). I am inclined to quash this," the Court remarked.The Court eventually posted the case for March 31 after stating that the probe can continue. On November 16, 2022 the Court had stayed the criminal proceedings against three of them..Leone, her husband and her employee are accused in a crime registered based on a complaint moved by a Kerala based event manager.The complainant had alleged that despite paying Leone lakhs of rupees to appear and perform in events, the actress did not show up.Subsequently, a case was registered against them alleging commission of offences punishable under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty inducing delivery of property) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.The trio then moved the High Court by way of the present petition claiming they are innocent and that even if the allegations are taken at face value, the offences alleged would not be attracted.The complainant has not faced any losses due to the petitioners but the petitioners' lives are being adversely affected by the case, the plea said.The plea also pointed out that the complainant had also moved a civil suit with the same allegations which was dismissed by a Magistrate Court in July 2022 for want of evidence.Therefore, they moved the High Court seeking quashing of the proceedings against them.The petitioners were represented by Senior Advocate P Vijayabhanu and advocates R Sanjith, CS Sindhu Krishnah, Suraj Krishnan, and Sidhi K Kutty.