Justice, Power, and Misogyny: What The Dileep Verdict Unleashed

Dileep’s acquittal verdict in the actor abduction and rape case landed like a shockwave in Kerala, rippling first through the courtroom corridors of Ernakulam and then across the Malayalam film industry, where the case’s open wound festered for nearly nine years. By afternoon, the reactions had hardened into two distinct worlds: one that felt vindicated, and another that felt betrayed.

For those who had stood by actor Dileep from the beginning, the acquittal was a moment of triumph. But for many women actors, activists, and members of the Women in Cinema Collective, the judgment felt like an unravelling of faith in the system. Justice, they said, had once again slipped through the cracks. On social media, the words “avalkkoppam” (with her) began circulating almost immediately, a quiet reminder that their solidarity with the survivor had not dimmed.

The Ernakulam Sessions Court had convicted six men directly involved in the 2017 abduction and assault. But the alleged masterminds—the four accused of plotting the crime, including Dileep—walked free. The prosecution’s electronic evidence, once believed to be the fulcrum on which the conspiracy case rested, was dismissed. The court concluded that the conspiracy had not been proven.

Outside the courtroom, Dileep emerged combative. His expression was defiant; his words, accusatory. He spoke of “criminal police officers,” of a woman officer leading a vendetta, of media houses conspiring to destroy him. But it was his accusation against his former wife, actor Manju Warrier, that cut through the noise. He claimed her early statement, hinting at a conspiracy, had set the machinery against him in motion.

“The police, along with the prime accused Pulsar Suni and his jailmates, concocted a fake story,” he said, his voice hard, measured. “For nearly nine years, my life and my image were ruined. The real conspiracy was against me.” He alleged

Back in 2017, when the survivor had been assaulted in a moving vehicle—a crime that appalled the country— Warrier had stood before an audience of film stars and spoken about the conspiracy behind the attack. That moment had marked a rupture within Malayalam cinema, a tear that widened over the years into two hostile camps.

The investigation had eventually led to Dileep’s arrest. He was listed as the eighth accused, spent 83 days in jail, and returned to a career frozen in place. Film bodies that once revolved around his stardom had been forced to suspend him—AMMA under particularly fierce criticism for what many saw as an attempt to protect its own.

The fissures opened again after Tuesday’s verdict. AMMA welcomed the acquittal with a brief message—carefully worded, but clear enough. For the WCC, the judgment was a bitter blow. Parvathy Thiruvoth wrote on social media, “Justice what? And now we watch a carefully crafted screenplay unfold so cruelly now.” Others shared only posters, black letters against pale backgrounds, saying simply: avalkkoppam.

The government, too, responded swiftly. Law Minister P. Rajeeve said he had conferred with the Chief Minister and that the state would appeal the acquittals. The investigation, he insisted, had been thorough. The verdict, he added, was not entirely satisfying. “The government will continue to stand with the survivor,” he said.

The survivor herself has remained silent so far. But her long struggle with the trial is well recorded. She approached the High Court and later the Supreme Court seeking a change of judge, alleging that she faced a harrowing courtroom environment. Two public prosecutors resigned during the trial, citing their own concerns about the conduct of proceedings.

The quantum of punishment for the convicted men will be announced on December 12.

The case that stunned the Malayalam film world is far from closed. Yet the verdict has redrawn old battle lines and reignited fierce conversations about justice, misogyny, and the entrenched power structures that continue to define the industry.