In a significant legal development, the Kerala High Court has granted a stay on all further action against actress Shwetha Menon, who is facing charges related to the alleged circulation of obscene content. As per reports, the case, which involves clips from her past movies and advertisements, has been paused by the court. The High Court’s decision comes after the actress’s legal team argued that the FIR was registered without following proper legal procedures, bringing a temporary halt to the investigation and offering a major reprieve to the actress.Read on to know more about the case.
Kerala High Court orders interim stay on proceedings in FIR against Shwetha Menon
Now, Justice V G Arun has ordered a temporary stay on proceedings against the Malayalam actress after she appealed to the court for quashing the FIR that was registered at the Ernakulam Central Police Station. As per the Matrubhumi report, the HC also issued notices to the state of Kerala and the complainant whose complaint prompted the magistrate’s court to order the filing of a formal FIR.According to the report, the court stated, “The complaint was filed and forwarded to the police within a short time frame, suggesting that proper procedure may not have been followed.”The bench also directed the court registry to seek a report from the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Ernakulam on the procedures followed before referring the complaint to law enforcement.The FIR was filed against the actress under Section 67A of the Information Technology Act and Sections 3 and 5 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. Martin Menanchery, in the complaint, alleged that the actress featured in s*xually explicit content for financial gains.Meanwhile, in her plea, Shwetha Menon mentioned that the content which is being talked about was from her past movies and advertisements, certified by the Central Board of Film Certification, and was released many years back.She also denied any involvement in po*nographic content on any website and called the allegations “malicious” and “baseless.”
Next hearing…
The trial will continue after receiving the report from the magistrate and the complainant’s response.This incident comes while Menon is running against renowned actor and BJP leader Devan for the leadership of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA).
