The junior artiste who filed the second complaint of sexual harassment against actor Jayasurya spoke about the alleged incident to the media at the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club on Friday, August 30. She said that Jayasurya had grabbed her without permission, but later apologised and asked her to keep it a secret.
The incident occurred on the set of Pigman, a 2013 movie starring Jayasurya and directed by Avira Rebecca. “On the first day of shooting, while I was returning from the washroom, someone grabbed me from behind. When I looked, it was Jayasurya. He immediately apologised to me and claimed that he did it because he likes the social work that I do. He asked to be good friends and requested me to not share the incident with anyone,” she said.
The survivor said that even after the incident, they have remained in touch through social work. He has also met her family during such events, she said, adding, “We have remained friends.” In the days after the survivor first made the allegation without naming Jayasurya, photos of the two clicked after 2013 were circulated on social media in an evident attempt to discredit the survivor. It is important to understand that many survivors of sexual harassment are forced by circumstances to co-exist with their abusers.
On the morning of August 30, a First Information Report was registered against Jayasurya based on the survivor's complaint. Speaking to TNM, Karamana police said that the FIR has been registered under section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). This is the second FIR registered against Jayasurya on sexual harassment allegations.
On August 29, the Cantonment police station in Thiruvananthapuram had booked Jayasurya based on a complaint filed by another survivor. In her complaint, she alleged that he assaulted her during a film shoot in the state Secretariat.
The allegations are being made in the wake of the publishing of the Hema Committee Report, which was released on August 19. It revealed the rampant misogyny and abuse of power in the Malayalam film industry and triggered another MeToo movement. In the past week, over 10 cases have been registered against different actors, directors, and production controllers based on the complaints raised by the survivors.
To probe the allegations, on August 29, the Kerala government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), including senior women police officials.