Kerala High Court quashes obscenity case against actress Shwetha Menon

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday quashed criminal proceedings initiated against Malayalam actress Shwetha Menon on allegations that she acted in obscene films and advertisements for financial gain [Shewtha Menon v State of kerala & anr].

Justice CS Dias allowed Menon's petition to quash a first information report (FIR) and connected criminal proceedings filed against her.

The Court held that the allegations levelled against the actress, even at face value, did not attract the cited offences under Section 67A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (punishment for publishing or transmitting sexually explicit content in electronic form) or Sections 3 and 5 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, which deal with prostitution related offences.

The Court concluded that it was a fit case to quash the criminal proceedings.

"I am satisfied that this is a fit case to exercise inherent powers of this Court under Section 528 of the BNSS. In the aforesaid circumstances, I allow the Criminal MC by quashing the Annexure 1-complaint and the Annexure 2-FIR and all further proceedings in the crime," the Court said.

The Court added that the complaint appears to have been filed with the intention of damaging Menon's reputation.

In this regard, the Court took note of a contention raised by Menon's counsel that the complaint was filed shortly after the actress decided to contest for the post of Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) President.

She was subsequently elected to the post.

Menon's counsel argued that the complaint filed ahead of these elections was totally frivolous and filed with the intention of preventing her from contesting the elections and to malign and defame her reputation.

The FIR against the actress was registered after the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate referred a complaint filed in the matter by one Martin Menachery to the police.

The complainant claimed that Menon should face criminal proceedings in connection with her appearance in films and advertisements that allegedly contain vulgar and obscene content. He alleged that such obscene content was being circulated through social media platforms and adult websites to gain popularity and generate money.

Menon countered that the criminal case was entirely baseless and part of a motivated attempt to tarnish her public image.

She pointed out that the films cited in the complaint, including Paleri Manikyam, Rathinirvedham and Kalimannu, were lawfully released films, certified by the censor board.

Menon also pointed out that her performance in Paleri Manikyam had earned her the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress.

The actress denied any involvement in running pornographic websites and said that such defamatory allegations have been made without any material evidence.

The Court had earlier ordered a stay on the criminal proceedings.

Today, after finding that the complaint was filed with an ulterior motive, aimed at sabotaging Menon's candidature and reputation, the Court quashed all proceedings initiated against her.

Menon's petition was filed through advocates Unni Sebastian Kappen and M Revikrishnan.