Actor Manju Warrier lodges police complaint against director Menon alleging threat to life
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 23: Popular Malayalam actress Manju Warrier has lodged a police complaint against ad filmmaker-turned director Shrikumar Menon for allegedly threatening and defaming her through social media.
Menon, who had helmed the advertisements of several popular brands with Warrier in the lead role, entered tinsel town last year by directing the Mohanlal-Manju Warrier starrer "Odiyan", which failed to take off at the box office.
State police chief Loknath Behera on Tuesday confirmed here that he had received the "Asuran" actress' complaint and said necessary action would be taken after examining the complaint in detail.
However, his office was tight-lipped about the content of the complaint.
"The complaint, received by the DGP, has been handed over to a special investigation team for further action," an official at the police headquarters here told PTI.
According to local media reports, the award-winning actress levelled grave charges against Shrikumar Menon and one of his journalist friends.
She alleged that the director had threatened her and some of her close friends and tried to defame her by orchestrating a hate campaign against her on the social media, the reports said.
It also said that Warrier had handed over some digital evidence to the investigators to prove her point.
However, Shrikumar Menon, in a Facebook post, said he came to know about the police complaint only through media reports and he would cooperate with the investigation.
Unleashing a scathing attack against the actress, he said she had forgotten all the help and support he had offered during her second coming in the Malayalam industry after several years.
He also alleged that she had only Rs 1,500 in her account when she had left her home and it was he who had given her a cheque of Rs 25 lakh as advance payment of her first advertisement.
The actress has also sent a letter to the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) about her police complaint against Menon and sought the support of the outfit.
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Unreserved vacancies for candidates with disabilities open for all categories: SC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday said "unreserved" vacancies for Persons with Disabilities (PWD) are an open pool where merit remains the decisive factor and that eligible candidates belonging to any social or special category can be employed.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N Kotiswar Singh set aside a judgement of the Calcutta High Court, saying the "unreserved" category is not a separate "social category" but an open field for all.
It held that a more meritorious PWD candidate belonging to a reserved category like OBC, SC, or ST cannot be barred from an unreserved PWD post simply because a candidate from the "General" category is also available.
"In reservation law, it is well settled that the Unreserved/Open category does not refer to any social/communal category like SCs, STs or OBC. In other words, any post falling under the Unreserved or Open category does not pertain to any particular social category, it provides an open field or pool meant for the world at large, in the sense that it is open to all candidates, irrespective of whether one belongs to any social or special category or not," Justice Singh, who authored the verdict, said.
The court said if an unreserved or open post is meant for the special category of Persons with Disabilities, it means that the said post will be open to all candidates of all vertical social categories, whether Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) or Other Backward Classes (OBC), provided such candidates are also PWD.
"Thus, all candidates, whether SC, ST or OBC, but who are Persons with Disabilities, are equally entitled to compete for the post meant for Persons with Disabilities falling under the Unreserved category, the rationale being that all those who are similarly situated must be treated equally," it said.
The case arose from a recruitment drive of the West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (WBSETCL) for the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) Grade-II.
The notification included one post specifically earmarked for Unreserved (Persons with Disabilities -- Low Vision).
The controversy involved two candidates, an unreserved category candidate with low vision who scored 55.667 marks and an OBC candidate, also with low vision, who scored 66.667 marks.
The WBSETCL appointed the OBC candidate to the post based on his higher merit.
This was challenged by the general category candidate who said since he was a "qualified unreserved candidate", the vacancy should have gone to him and that reserved category candidates should only be considered if no unreserved PWD candidate is available.
While a single-judge bench of the high court dismissed the plea, a division bench reversed that decision, directing the employer to appoint the less-meritorious unreserved candidate.
The WBSETCL had then appealed to the Supreme Court.
