Kerala court grants bail to filmmaker Ranjith in sexual harassment case

A magistrate court in Ernakulam on Friday granted bail to Malayalam film director Ranjith Balakrishnan in a sexual harassment case.

Judicial First Class Magistrate L Usha granted bail to Ranjith who was arrested on a complaint lodged by a young actress.

The magistrate had earlier granted police the custody of the filmmaker for three days from April 5 to April 6.

When the case was taken up today, the magistrate noted that no custody application has been filed by the prosecution.

The counsel appearing for Ranjith submitted that no notice was served on him prior to the proceedings.

He reiterated that the accused has not challenged either his arrest or the earlier custody order and emphasised on his client's willingness to cooperate with the investigation.

The prosecution opposed his bail stating that he had not cooperated with the investigating officer when he was in custody for three days.

However, the Court proceeded to grant him bail.

The case arose from allegations that the filmmaker attempted to sexually assault an actress inside a caravan during a film shoot on January 30 this year.

Based on her complaint a First Information Report (FIR) was registered by the Ernakulam police against Ranjith.

The police lodged the FIR and recorded her confidential statement, before proceeding to arrest the director.

On March 31, Ranjith was taken into custody by the police from Thodupuzha and was later produced before the magistrate in Ernakulam, who remanded him to judicial custody.

He has been booked under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including non-bailable offences under Section 74 (assault or criminal force to women with intent to outrage her modesty), Section 75 (sexual harassment) and Section 79 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).

He is currently lodged at the Ernakulam Sub Jail.

Ranjith has maintained that the case against him is false, however, this is not the first time that allegations of sexual misconduct have been raised against Balakrishnan.

These allegations against the director surfaced after the release of the Justice Hema Committee report, which exposed the systemic issues of sexual exploitation and harassment in the Malayalam film industry.

In 2024, a Bengali actress had accused Ranjith of attempting to molest her during a film discussion in 2009, following which an FIR was registered.

That case was later quashed by the Kerala High Court in October 2025 on the ground of considerable delay in lodging the complaint.

In another instance, the Karnataka High Court had quashed proceedings initiated against Ranjith after an aspiring male actor accused the director of engaging in unnatural sex with him.

That case was found to be false by the High Court.

Advocate S Rajeev appeared for Ranjith.