The Kerala High Court on Tuesday granted bail to businessman Boby Chemmanur, who was arrested in a sexual harassment case filed against him by a female Malayalam actor for allegedly making comments laced with sexual innuendos during a public event
A single bench of Justice PV Kunhikrishnan granted bail to Chemmannur subject to certain conditions. The court followed the Supreme Court judgment in Arnesh Kumara vs state of Bihar (2013)) which said that bail shall be granted if the maximum sentence for the offence is less than seven year. The Court had said that the petitioner shall not commit an offence of the similar nature, or otherwise, the bail will be cancelled.
The Court noted that when Boby Chemmanur referred to the actress as ‘Kunthidevi’, there was a double meaning to it.”Do not argue on merits you only want bail right, if you argue on merit I will not agree with you,” the judge had warned during the hearing
While granting bail, the Judge observed that there was a prima facie case against the petitioner.
“Prima facie I am of the opinion that that there are ingredients to attract the offences alleged against the petitioner. The petitioner is using words with double meanings. Any Malayalee who reads the First Information Statement can easily understand all the words used by the petitioner with double meanings. Therefore I am of the considered opinion that prima facie, the ingredients of the offences are attracted.” the court said
The Court also observed that body shaming is not acceptable in the society.
“Before concluding, I am forced to say that body shaming is not acceptable in our society. Comments about the body of a person as too fat, too skinny, too short, too tall, too dark, too black etc. should be avoided. There is a sense that we are all “too something”, and we are all “not enough”. This is life. Our bodies will change, our minds will change and our hearts will change. Everybody should be vigilant while making comments about others, whether they are men or women. I leave it there,” the court added
The court directed Boby Chemmanur to execute a bond for Rs 50,000 with two solvent sureties each for the like sum. He shall appear before the Investigating Officer for interrogation as and when required. The petitioner shall cooperate with the investigation and shall not, directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat, or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him/her from disclosing facts to the court or to any police officer
Boby Chemmanur was booked under Section 75 (Sexual Harassment) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 67 (publishing or transmission of obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act