Let police investigate: Kerala HC on FIR against Olympian

One-liner: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the police to investigate the FIR lodged against Olympian Mayookha Johny for raising false rape allegations.

False allegations: Hearing her plea seeking quashing of the FIR, Johny's lawyer told the court that she was an athlete and an Olympian and the allegations against her were false.

• The court issued notice to the State and the complainant seeking their stand on the athlete's plea to quash the FIR against her
• The sportsperson, represented by an advocate, has claimed the case was lodged against her to pressurise her into withdrawing her support to a friend who was raped by a man

Bail denied: The accused in the rape case was denied anticipatory bail by the HC, but he was granted relief on Dec 3 by the Supreme Court which also directed him to cooperate with the investigation in the case.

Case against Johny: The case against Johny was lodged by the police on the direction of a trial court based on a complaint before it alleging that her claims regarding who raped her friend and the threats to her own life were false.

• Police registered a case against Johny and nine others for allegedly raising false rape allegations following a court directive on a complaint from a former trustee of a local religious outfit

Need to know: Johny in July this year had levelled serious allegations against the Kerala police and a former official of the state women's commission in connection with the investigation into the case of rape of her friend in 2016.

• She had alleged that police, after initially promising action, became inactive due to the intervention of highly influential persons in favour of the accused