Producer-actor Vijay Babu not to be arrested in rape case on arrival, says HC

The Kerala high court on Tuesday asked the police and the immigration department not to arrest Malayalam movie producer and actor Vijay Babu, accused in a rape case, when he arrives in Kochi on June 1.

The high court, while granting the interim protection from arrest to Babu, directed him to appear before the investigating officer of the case on June 2.

The actor is not to be arrested till then, it said.

The court directed the Centre and the state government to communicate its order to the respective departments and listed the matter for hearing on June 2.

It also said that the IO can interrogate the actor when he appears before the officer.

The directions were issued during the hearing of Babu's plea for anticipatory bail.

In his plea, he has alleged that the rape case has been filed against him to blackmail him.

He has been accused of allegedly sexually assaulting a female actor and disclosing the victim's identity through a Facebook live session.

"Now the attempt of the de facto complainant is to blackmail the petitioner by simply filing the complaint alleging that the petitioner forcefully sexually assaulted her," Babu has said in his plea.

The producer-actor has also alleged in his plea, that there is a "trend" of making sexual allegations against anybody to tarnish the image of a person who is having popularity in the society and for the sake of publicity.

He has claimed that he was innocent and was "highly aggrieved" by the one-sided approach of the authorities to make him a "scapegoat for the purpose of news and the media."

Babu, who is reportedly absconding since the police charged him with rape following the woman's complaint, appeared in a Facebook Live session and claimed innocence, saying he is the real victim.

As the producer, who is also the founder of the production company Friday Film House, disclosed the survivor's name and identity, which is an offence, another case was also slapped on him.

The woman, who appeared in movies produced by Vijay Babu's production house, lodged a complaint with the police on April 22 and detailed through a Facebook post the physical assault and sexual exploitation she had allegedly suffered at the hands of the producer-actor for the past one-and-half months.