The Karnataka High Court has struck down a decade-old sexual assault case filed against renowned Malayalam filmmaker Ranjith Balakrishnan, turning the spotlight on the crumbling foundations of the complaint itself.
The case—once fuelled by sensational allegations from a young, aspiring male actor—accused Ranjith of committing unnatural sexual acts at the Taj Hotel near Bengaluru Airport in 2012. But as it turns out, that very hotel didn’t exist at the time. It opened its doors only in 2016.
Justice SR Krishna Kumar, while allowing Ranjith’s plea to quash the case, found the timeline too fractured to ignore. A written copy of the ruling is yet to be released, but the Court’s stand was unmistakably clear.
Ranjith’s legal defence, led by Senior Advocate Prabhuling Navadgi, didn’t mince words—labeling the entire complaint as baseless and impossible on the face of facts. The gaping time mismatch between the alleged incident and the hotel’s actual inauguration wasn’t the only red flag. The complaint had been lodged 12 years after the supposed events, a delay the Court previously found unjustified.
Back when the case first surfaced, another judge, Justice M Nagaprasanna, had already stayed criminal proceedings citing serious doubts about the credibility of the complaint.
The filmmaker had been booked under Section 377 of the IPC (now largely read down) and Section 66E of the Information Technology Act, which pertains to violation of privacy. The complainant had claimed he was invited to the fourth floor of the hotel, offering a detailed version of events that now stands dismantled by facts on record.
Ranjith’s petition to quash the FIR was filed through advocate Joseph Anthony. With the Court’s order today, the legal shadow hanging over the director appears to have lifted—for now.
