Some South Indian movie stars under investigation for sex crimes, police say

By Jose Devasia

KOCHI, India (Reuters) - Several prominent film actors and directors are the focus of a police investigation into sexual assault and harassment in India's southern state of Kerala, a case that has added to the outrage in the country over violence against women.

The allegations come at a time when doctors in many parts of the country are protesting against the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in the eastern city of Kolkata, leading to strikes in several hospitals and anger on social media.

The investigation in Kerala began when police received complaints from female actors accusing male colleagues of sexual harassment and abuse. The accusations came a week after a government-appointed panel detailed instances of sexual harassment and discrimination in the Malayalam language film industry, based in Kerala, in the past.

Police have filed nine complaints against several members of Kerala's popular film industry, including a director and veteran actors, Kerala's south zone police inspector-general, Sparjan Kumar, told Reuters.

"We have so far received 16 complaints from women in the film industry. We are examining all the complaints and taking follow-up action," Kumar, who heads a seven-member special police team probing the allegations, said.

India's southern states, including Kerala, have vibrant local language film industries, separate from the Hindi language Bollywood, and patronised by many locals.

Bollywood, as well as local language film industries have been shaken by similar allegations of sexual assault and harassment in the past, but little action has been taken.

(Reporting by Jose Devasia, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)