Malayalam film director Priyanandan attacked over FB post on Sabarimala

THRISSUR: National Award-winning

Malayalam

film director and theatre personality Priyanandanan was assaulted and had cow dung poured on him during his morning walk in Thrissur on Friday morning, allegedly because of his Facebook post on the Sabarimala controversy. The police later arrested Sarovar (25), allegedly an RSS activist, for the assault.


Priyanandanan was attacked near his house at Vallachira and said the incident took place at 9 am. “He poured the cow dung solution on me and then started hitting me from behind. The attack appeared to be premeditated,” he said.

“The person is familiar to me and he was staying in our area. He ran away after people gathered.”

Several BJP leaders had filed police complaints against Priyanandan alleging that he had hurt the sentiments of devotees using indecent language against Lord Ayyappa in his Facebook post. Priyanandan, whose second film ‘Pulijanmam’ received the National Award for Best Feature Film in 2006, withdrew the post later but said he not changed his stance on the Sabarimala issue.

Priyanandan said he would not seek police protection as he had not committed any major crime. “There is freedom of expression in this country and there can be different interpretations on mythological characters,” he said.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan termed the attack against Priyanandan as an attempt to subvert freedom of expression and said police will take strong action against assailants.

Irinjalakkuda ACP Famous Varghese said Sarovar was an RSS activist and was picked up from Kodungallur. BJP leader M T Ramesh, however, said the party had no links with the attack. “There is a tendency now to blame BJP for all attacks, and this is only one such case,” he said.