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The Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed an anticipatory bail plea filed by Malayalam actor Kollam Thulasi in a case against him for allegedly making provocative anti-women remarks during a Sabarimala protest organised by the BJP-led NDA in the state.
Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan directed him to surrender before the investigation officer.
Thulasi had moved the high court seeking anticipatory bail after a sessions court in Kollam declined to grant him relief.
The actor had made a shocking statement in October last year, saying that women entering Sabarimala temple should be ripped into half.
Thulasi made the controversial remark while taking a dig at the central and state governments while threatening women against entering the Sabarimala temple.
"One half should be sent to Delhi and the other half should be thrown towards chief minister's (Pinarayi Vijayan) office in Thiruvananthapuram," he had said.
The FIR against Thulasi was registered on a complaint by a local leader of the DYFI, the youth wing of the CPI(M).
The actor was booked under Sections 295A (outraging religious feelings), 298 (uttering words with intention to wound religious sentiments), 354A (making sexually coloured remarks) of the IPC.
He was also booked under Section 119A of the Kerala Police Act, which deals with sexual gestures or acts in public places degrading the dignity of women.
The Kerala State Women's Commission had registered a case against Thulasi.
On September 28 last year, the Supreme Court allowed women of all ages to enter the temple, saying that "no physiological and biological factor can be given legitimacy if it doesn't pass the test of conditionality".
