Malyalam Actor Bala Kumar arrested for ‘outraging woman’s modesty’ following ex-wife’s complaint

Actor Bala Kumar, predominantly known for his work in Malayalam cinema, was arrested on Oct 14 by Kadavanthra police in Kerala for allegedly outraging a woman’s modesty, following a complaint by his ex-wife, singer-composer, Amritha Suressh.

He also faces additional charges under juvenile justice laws for allegedly disturbing his 12-year-old daughter. The police took Bala and his manager Rajesh into custody at his flat in Kochi and conducted Bala’s medical examination at Ernakulam General Hospital.

According to OnManorama — an online news portal, Suressh, in her complaint, has accused Bala of insulting her via social media and added that his videos have caused emotional harm to their daughter. She further claimed that he also violated their divorce agreement, which prohibits personal attacks, stating, “He is constantly disturbing me and my 12-year-old daughter, even giving paid online interviews about us.”

Pertinently, the dispute between the two escalated when Bala recently claimed that Amrutha was preventing him from seeing their daughter. In response, Avantika, their daughter, recently posted a video on social media stating that Bala had been misbehaving with both her and her mother. Bala later responded in another video, saying that if Avantika did not want to meet him, he would no longer pursue a relationship with her.

Bala plans to approach the Kerala High Court to quash the case entirely, his lawyer Fathima Siddique was quoted as saying.
Bala made his acting debut in the 2002 Telugu film '2 Much' and later appeared in Tamil cinema with his 2003 film Anbu. Besides Malayalam films, he has also acted in Tamil and Telugu languages movies. His most recent appearance was in controversial director Omar’s Bad Boyz (2024).

He comes from a family deeply rooted in the Malayalam film industry. His grandfather owned Arunachala Studios, and his father directed over 350 films and documentaries.

His brother Tamil director Siva is known for films like Veeram (2014), Vedalam (2015), Vivegam (2017), Viswasam (2019), Annaatthe (2021), and currently directing the upcoming Suriya-starrer Kanguva (2024).