The Kerala High Court on Friday (July 3) stayed the criminal proceedings initiated against businessman Boby Chemmanur in the sexual harassment case filed by a Malayalam movie actress in 2025.

Justice Jobin Sebastian passed the interim order while considering a plea filed by Chemmanur to quash the criminal proceedings pending before Additional District and Sessions Court, Ernakulam.

It was noted that the case has been amicably settled and an affidavit was filed by the de facto complainant affirming the same. It directed the public prosecutor to ascertain the genuineness of the same and posted the case to July 23.

As per reports, a few days back, Chemmanur had posted his unconditional apology to the actress for his misconduct on social media and had requested her to withdraw the case.

The prosecution allegation is that Chemmanur sexually harassed the de facto complainant, an actress, who was invited for the inauguration of Chemmannur International Jewellers Showroom, located at Alacode, Kannur. It is further alleged that Chemmanur adorned her with a necklace in front of thousands of people and caught hold of her hand without her consent and twirled her around.

Further, it is alleged that Chemmanur committed sexual overture when he turned her around to show the back of the necklace. The prosecution also alleges that he made sexually coloured remarks about her on different occasions on YouTube channels and other social media platforms, especially after she refused to participate in other functions that he had invited her to.

Chemmanur was booked under Section 75 (Sexual Harassment) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 67 (publishing or transmission of obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act.

Following this, he was arrested on January 8, 2025 and remanded to judicial custody. Later, on January 14, the High Court had granted him bail. Even though bail was granted to him, Chemmanur continued to remain in bail, leading to sharp criticism by the Court, which also warned to cancel the bail.

The petition is moved by Advocate M.R. Dhanil. The defacto complainant is represented by Advocates Zakeer Hussain, K.A. Sanjeetha, and Lovewin Vinu.

Case No: Crl.MC 977/ 2026

Case Title: C.D. Boby @ Dr. Boby Chemmanur v. State of Kerala

Click to Read/Download Interim Order