By Sharanya Gopinathan

Somehow, the assault of the popular Malayalam actor, which took place in February 2017, has now become all about actor Dileep.

When the news of the case first broke, in addition to all the irresponsible coverage around it that revealed the identity of the survivor, there were also rumours about the involvement of Malayalam actor Dileep in the attack. This past week has added to the mix, and the attention is now focused on a letter allegedly written by Pulsar Suni, the main accused in the assault case, to Dileep, hinting at Dileep’s involvement in the case. The letter starts with the words, “Dileepetta, I am Suni. I am writing from the jail,”, just in case there was any confusion. The police later compared the handwriting in that letter to Pulsar Suni’s handwriting in a different legal document, and found the letter to be fake.

Malayalam actors have taken the shift in attention from the survivor to Dileep quite seriously and very personally, and yesterday, actors like Aju Varghese and Salim Kumar took the opportunity to express their support for Dileep. At the time of the Malayalam actor’s assault back in February, of course, Salim Kumar had nothing to say, and didn’t make any statements in support or solidarity of the survivor. Now, he says that the assault of the Malayalam actor is the “climax scene” of a mysterious “script” written seven years ago, that Dileep’s divorce from Manju Warrier was the first twist in the plot, and now comes the actor’s assault.

Isn’t it shocking how conveniently and easily so many men are able to take the important and violent realities of women’s lives, and somehow make them seem like inconvenient intrusions or random occurrences in the lives of men? The assault of the Malayalam actor was not a climax or plot twist in the life of Dileep, it was a crime that was committed against her. It was a part of her life that had an impact on her, not an inconvenience in bloody Dileep’s life. And I never really thought I’d have to say this out loud, but can we please not refer to sexual assault as a climax in anyone’s life?

Salim Kumar goes on to say that both Pulsar Suni and the assault survivor should undergo lie-detector tests, which to me makes it sound like he’s concerned that the survivor is lying about something and that that needs to be uncovered for the sake of Dileep. Doesn’t it seem like all-around, Salim Kumar is far more concerned about Dileep’s well-being than that of the assault survivor?

Actor Aju Varghese, who did condemn the attack of the Malayalam actor when it happened, also spoke out in favour of Dileep yesterday. In his social media post, he called what’s happening to Dileep “the height of injustice”, except that term may have been better used when talking about what happened to the Malayalam actor in February, not what’s happening to Dileep now.