After Malayalam actress Anna Ben shared her ordeal on Instagram about getting groped and stalked by two men at Kochi's Lulu mall while she was shopping with her family on Thursday evening, the Kerala Police has taken suo motu cognizance of the crime and launched a probe.
According to a report in IANS, the local police, on Saturday, has released the pictures of two youths who are alleged to have sexually harassed the popular young Kerala actress at the shopping mall. The actress was accompanied by her family members when this incident took place. The police have by now taken a statement to this effect from her mother, as she is busy in a film shoot.
Sharing what had transpired at the shopping mall, the actress has written on Instagram, "Two men walked past me in a generously spaced aisle in Lulu hypermarket which barely had people crowding and one of them not so accidentally grazed his hands on my back while walking past me. Because it caught me off guard I couldn’t react immediately. I wanted to give him the benefit of a doubt but you know when something is just not right, you feel it."
It was after the media taking up the matter, the police and the Kerala State Women's Commission decided to take up the case suo motu. The police began their probe by collecting visuals and are now closing in on the two men, after their first visuals have been put out in public domain.
According to the police, they have zeroed down the two youth, but with both spotting a face mask, as is the norm due to Covid, they expect that it might take a bit more time.
The actress, however, is yet to give an official complaint.
(With IANS Inputs)
