Court issues notice to Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, others in Manju Warrier defamation case

The Third Additional Munsiff Court has issued a temporary injunction restraining Sanal Kumar Sasidharan from defaming Manju Warrier.

A Munsiff court in Kochi on Saturday issued notice to filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan and two others in an injunction suit alleging defamation of actor Manju Warrier.

Third Additional Munsiff Court Judge Reeja R Nair issued notices to Sasidharan, Shajan Skaria, who runs a Malayalam online news portal, and to Meta Platforms Inc.

The petition was filed under Section 26 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

The court directed that the summons be returned on November 5, when the petition will be heard.

Manju Warrier’s counsel Santhi M said the court has also issued a temporary injunction restraining Sanal Kumar Sasidharan from defaming the female actor.

“A person named Sanal Kumar Sasidharan continuously defames Manju Warrier, gives false news against her, and creates around 10,000 pieces of content daily on media and social media to defame her,” she told reporters.

“We have filed an injunction suit. In that suit, the Munsiff Court has now issued a temporary order instructing him not to defame Manju Warrier anymore. The Munsiff Court has issued a temporary injunction against Sasidharan,” Santhi added.

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Santhi M said Manju Warrier had filed criminal cases against Sanal Kumar Sasidharan in 2022 and 2023 and had given statements before the court.

“Despite this, he continues to defame her on social media platforms by making false statements,” she alleged.

Santhi said the court had also directed Meta to remove alleged defamatory content against Warrier from its social media platform.

Sanal Kumar Sasidharan is currently on a hunger strike in front of the state Secretariat demanding the release of the Hema Committee report, a high-level probe into the irregularities flagged by it and an inquiry into the alleged conspiracy behind the registration of two cases against him based on complaints by Manju Warrier.