The Magistrate Court ordered the police to investigate actress Ansiba Hassan’s petition against Lakshmi Priya

The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Ernakulam, has directed the Kochi City Police to investigate a private complaint filed by actor and Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) member Ansiba Hassan against actress Lakshmi Priya and representatives of CAN Channel for allegedly posting and circulating videos containing false and sexually-tinged allegations against her with the intention of various social media platforms.

Magistrate Shana Beegam referred the complaint filed by Ms. Hassan to the police for proper investigation under Section 175(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). The petitioner alleged that by creating and circulating sexually colored videos targeting her on social media, the accused had committed offenses under Sections 75(4) (sexual harassment), 79 (insulting the modesty of a woman) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Section 119 of the Information Technology Act and 67 of laws against women. of the Kerala Police Act.

She sought registration of a First Information Report against the accused, including Ms. Lakshmi Priya, Sukumar, the owner of the CAN channel, and Suresh, who interviewed Ms. Priya.

The judge noted that all digital content would have to be collected and examined to determine whether the alleged crimes had occurred. The circumstances mentioned in the complaint prima facie indicated that a conspiracy was hatched between the parties against the petitioner to defame her. Counsel for the petitioner argued that after the release of the video trailer, two more voluminous videos were published and circulated through the same channel, which the petitioner failed to collect. A police investigation was therefore very necessary, the judge noted.

The court reconsidered the petition based on the direction issued by the Kerala High Court. The Station House Officer of the Palarivattom police station said that the FIR was not registered as the preliminary investigation found grounds for defamation only.

The complainant also raised suspicions regarding the possible involvement of AMMA President Shwetha Menon in the dissemination of the impugned content. According to the complaint, Ms. Lakshmi Priya referred to the President in the impugned video and the manner in which her name was mentioned in association with highly offensive content directed at the petitioner raises reasonable suspicion warranting an investigation. The petitioner further alleged that the President contacted certain social media influencers to promote false narratives against her. She also claimed that the respondent used the President’s hashtag in the contested video, raising further suspicions about her possible involvement.

Published – 26 Sep 2026 0:37 IST