Actors Manju Warrier and Dileep separated in 2015 and their daughter Meenakshi chose to live with her father. Her decision led to a lot of discussion and speculation among the public in Kerala, with Manju painted as a ‘bad mom’. Meenakshi is in the news now because she had filed a case on social media companies for spoiling her reputation and that of her father’s. In her complaint to the Aluva East police, Meenakshi has alleged that since July, Facebook pages named Malayali Vartha, Metro Matini, B4 Malayalam and Manjumon, had been uploading posts with the aim to defame her and Dileep and make it seem as if there was a discord in the family. The cops have filed a First Information Report based on the complaint against certain Facebook pages for allegedly posting defamatory content.
Meenakshi states in her complaint that these pages have been claiming that she has had conflicts with her father Dileep. These FB pages allegedly claimed that she was leaving Dileep and going to live with her mother Manju Warrier. “They have been writing things like ‘it is difficult for her to stay at home after understanding how her father (Dileep) really was and that she has now she realised the value of her mother’. This is an attempt to defame my father,” her complaint said. According to the FIR, the police sought the permission from the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court and registered the case under section 120 (o) (causing, through any means of communication, a nuisance of himself to any person by repeated or undesirable or anonymous call, letter, writing, message, e-mail or through a messenger) of the Kerala Police Act. The FIR is also under Section 506 of the IPC for criminal intimidation.
Dileep is a key accused in the actor assault case where a leading female actor was abducted and sexually assaulted in 2017. Dileep who is the eighth accused in the case, is alleged to be the mastermind behind the crime, and he is presently out on bail. The Kerala High Court recently deferred the trial proceedings of the case after the survivor and the state government moved HC alleging that the trial court judge was hostile and biased. It had also come to light that Manju Warrier told the court that she got a call from her daughter days before she was supposed to depose before the court. Though Manju told the court that her daughter told her not to say anything against Dileep, the state government has said that this crucial revelation was not recorded by the trial court judge.
