Sexual assault case: Kerala High Court grants anticipatory bail to filmmaker V.K. Prakash

Kerala High Court grants anticipatory bail to filmmaker V.K. Prakash in sexual assault case, no criminal antecedents, surrender required.

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday (September 11, 2024) granted anticipatory bail to filmmaker V.K. Prakash in a sexual assault case registered based on a complaint of a woman scriptwriter.

Justice C.S. Dias, while allowing the anticipatory bail petition, observed that Mr. Prakash’s custodial interrogation was not necessary and that he had no criminal antecedents.

The court directed the filmmaker to surrender before the investigation officer within two weeks. The court also ordered that the investigation officer is entitled to interrogate him for three days from the date of his surrender.

The court ordered that in case he is arrested, he shall be released on bail on his executing a bond for ₹2 lakh with two solvent sureties to the like sum.

The court also ordered that he should appear before the investigation officer as and when required by the police. He should also surrender his passport before the court concerned. 

In his petition, Mr. Prakash had contended that that he was innocent and had been falsely implicated in the case on the basis of a complaint filed with an intention to blackmail him and get money from him. In fact, he had already lodged a complaint with the State Police Chief and the head of the special investigation team (SIT) following the disparaging and derogatory comments made against him by the woman. He feared that he would be arrested in connection with the case.

The scriptwriter alleged in her complaint that Mr. Prakash sexually assaulted her after inviting her to a hotel in Kollam when she had gone there to discuss a film project on April 4, 2022.