Koodathayi case: Ernakulam court injuncts web series 'Anali' from identifying Jolly Joseph as lead accused

A munsiff court in Kerala's Ernakulam has passed an interim injunction restraining social media platforms and the makers of Malayalam web series 'Anali' from releasing, promoting, streaming or circulating the show on any over the top platform [Jollyamma Joseph @ Jolly v JioHotstar Pvt Ltd& ors].

Judge Reeja R Nair passed the order on August 20 on a plea filed by Jolly, the prime accused in the Koodathayi killings.

The Court restrained the web series makers from releasing, publishing, promoting, exhibiting, hosting, reproducing or streaming the web series or any related promotional material to the extent it identifies Jolly with the principal female character and creates an impression that she is the actual perpetrator of the offences in question.

The order was passed months after the Kerala High Court had declined to entertain a similar plea filed by Jolly seeking to restrain the show's broadcast.

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas had then held that Jolly had an alternative remedy available to her which she was yet to exhaust an appeal under Rule 12 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, after her representation to the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (later forwarded to JioHotstar) came to be rejected.

The High Court had given her liberty to pursue that remedy but declined to entertain the writ petition itself.

Jolly is the prime accused in the Koodathayi cyanide killings case, involving the mysterious deaths of six persons in Kerala's Koodathayi village, all of them her close relatives.

She is currently lodged at the women's prison in Kozhikode, with criminal trials against her pending at different stages across multiple cases.

Before the High Court, Jolly had contended that 'Anali', reportedly inspired by the Koodathayi case, risked triggering a trial by media and prejudicing her right to a fair trial.

Jolly was represented by advocates Arun VG, Neeraj Narayan and Harikrishnan R.

[Read Order]