Malayalam filmmaker Ranjith was recently arrested by the police and sent to 14-day judicial custody by the court in an alleged attempted sexual assault case. The lawyer representing him, advocate Mohammed Siyad, received flak for being a member of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) for the film, on the sets of which the incident occurred. After a bail plea was filed and amid a row over his ICC membership, the advocate has quit the case. (Also Read: Ranjith claims innocence in attempted sexual assault case; Film Employees Federation of Kerala takes action against him)
Row over Ranjith’s lawyer’s ICC membership
The Women in Cinema Collection recently released a statement, a portion of which read: “We now hear that the IC members were “unaware” of a grave assault that happened right under their watch. This exposes how power structures in the industry have effectively muted the IC.” Siyad told OnManorama that he has stepped down from Ranjith’s case as he does not want to ‘fuel the controversy’.
Claiming that there were no ‘legal restrictions’ preventing him from representing Ranjith, he said, “As the legal advisor to numerous production houses, I have been a member of several Internal Complaints Committees, including the ICC for the film cited in this case. It is important to note that the complainant never raised any allegations of harassment during the shooting, nor did she ever approach the ICC.”
He also claimed that because the film’s shooting has concluded, there is no ‘legal barrier’ to his role, but that he has chosen to withdraw. The lawyer also stated that Ranjith’s family has been informed of this decision and has been advised to engage another lawyer for his bail proceedings.
The bail plea that claims actress filed case over cut scenes
Siyad’s resignation came hours after news broke of a bail plea filed on behalf of Ranjith, and amid flak for being an ICC member and yet protecting the alleged perpetrator. According to the report, the bail plea states that disagreements between the filmmaker and the actress during the shoot spiralled into a harassment case. The lawyer also wrote in the plea that the actress filed an alleged attempted sexual assault complaint as her scenes were edited out of the film.
Siyad stepped down as a member of the ICC before taking up the case, as producer Premachandran and co-producer Subair have been his clients for years. He also claimed to be ‘closely associated’ with Ranjith and his family and only became aware of the case after his arrest on Tuesday night. The advocate went on to claim that the filmmaker had raised concerns about a ‘possible conspiracy’ and that he had undergone spine surgery recently and ‘did not have time’ to sit in the caravan where the alleged incident took place.
“There were at least 200 people on set. If such an incident had happened, from what I have heard, she is not someone who would keep it a secret,” pointed out the lawyer, while also claiming that he did not know her ‘personally’. He also questioned why a case was registered nearly two months after the alleged incident. However, Kochi police told the press that the survivor was ‘traumatised’ by the incident and had to undergo counselling and psychiatric treatment before she could come forward with the complaint. The complaint alleges that Ranjith attempted to sexually assault the actress after calling her into a caravan.
