Malayalam Actor and BJP leader Suresh Gopi has approached the Kerala High Court, seeking anticipatory bail in connection with a case lodged against him for allegedly misbehaving with a woman journalist.

The complaint against him was initially filed alleging sexual harassment under Section 354A (1)(i)(iv) IPC, which was later altered to Section 354 IPC for assault or criminal force to outrage the modesty of a woman.

Hearing his plea, a single bench of Justice C Pratheep Kumar sought instructions in the matter and posted the bail plea for hearing for the first week of January 2024.

In his plea, Suresh Gopi argued that as he was proceeding to his hotel room, media persons surrounded and restrained his movement in the hotel lobby.

He was only trying to remove the obstruction caused by the media persons which included the woman journalist also. He averred that he had not used any criminal force or assault or even caused annoyance to the woman journalist.

He has filed the anticipatory bail plea under the circumstances of imposing serious charges against him. After questioning Gopi, the police have included Section 354 (uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage her or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty).

The actor submitted that the media visuals would show that the female reporter made a calculated pre-mediated plan to create a narration of sexual harassment.

“The petitioner without losing his cam has conducted himself in a very civilised manner of moving her aside creating his way by removing the restriction caused. This is later termed as sexual harassment which incident was occurred in broad light in a private hotel where the media people had gathered and confronted the petitioner without any appointment in a wrongful manner with an ill motive and malicious mind later revealed by the narrative which was created malafide out of an innocent act,” the actor has stated in his bail application.

The incident leading to the filing of the case against Suresh Gopi took place on October 27, 2023 during a media interaction in Kozhikode. The allegation of the woman journalist was that Suresh Gopi misbehaved with her.

The woman journalist filed a complaint with the Kozhikode City Commissioner and also the State Women’s Commission on October 27.

In the complaint, she alleged that Suresh Gopi placed his hand on her shoulder twice during a media interaction. The journalist initially moved away but Suresh Gopi again tried to put his hand on her shoulder, the complaint says.

The Commissioner subsequently referred the case to the Nadakkavu police station. The police booked Suresh Gopi over the complaint lodged by the woman journalist. The police have invoked IPC section 354 A against the actor for inappropriate behaviour.

The incident had sparked widespread controversy on social media. The Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) sought an apology from the actor over the incident. Following this, Suresh Gopi issued an apology stating that he had never been disrespectful to anyone in his life on or off the stage and that he had treated the woman journalist affectionately like a father and never intended to be disrespectful.

However, the journalist went ahead with legal action pointing out that Suresh Gopi’s was only an explanation and not an apology.