Actor Assault Case: Kerala High Court Grants Time To Government To File Statement

The Kerala High Court on Friday granted time to the government to file a statement in the plea moved by the survivor in the 2017 actor sexual assault case where she raised serious allegations against the State and the trial court judge, suspecting foul play in the ongoing investigation in the case.The matter was listed before Justice Ziyad Rahman where the state sought time to file a statement. Earlier this week, the matter was listed before Justice Kauser Edappagath, but the Judge had recused from hearing the matter upon the petitioner's request. The case was accordingly listed before Justice Rahman on the next day.Thereafter, the Court had directed that the accused be added as parties in the plea while asking the State to file a statement in the case. The petition was filed through Advocate T.B. Mini alleging that the Government which supported the petitioner's cause initially and allowed a fair investigation in the case, by police officers of the high integrity and took credit for the investigation politically has backtracked from its constitutional legal commitment to conducting a free, fair and complete investigation in the case.The survivor apprehended that the 8th accused in the case (actor Dileep) who is highly influential, directly and through his sources, has unlawfully influenced some of the politicians in the ruling front and is attempting to interfere with the further investigation in the case and prematurely close the same.The plea has also questioned the integrity of the trial court judge saying that "the act of the presiding officer is highly suspicious." She argued that the tampering with the memory card may help the accused take undue advantage in the further proceedings.Being the survivor, she asserted that she has the fundamental right to get a fair trial and justice as well as to know who has illegally accessed the memory card and tampered with or transmitted it as it is a violation of her fundamental right to privacy. It is the duty of the court to ascertain how the memory card was tampered with while in the custody of the court and who are the culprits.Even though the prosecution had approached this court with a petition to extend the time limit fixed by this Court, it was reliably learned that the prosecution, as well as the investigation agency, are now threatened by political higher-ups to end the investigation halfway and file an additional report in a half-cooked manner. This clearly establishes the illegal nexus between the accused and the ruling front, she submits.It has been further submitted that Dileep's lawyers tampered with evidence and illegally influenced the material witnesses, adding that evidence in this regard had already come into the public domain. There is also an agenda for the political and administrative higher-ups that no investigation is done in respect of the illegal access, tampering and transmission of the contents of the memory card are conducted due to reasons best known to them.It was submitted that it is highly necessary for the court to interfere in the matter to uphold the rule of law in this country and to protect the constitutional and legal right of the survivor in a heinous crime never heard n the history of criminal jurisprudence in our country.The matter is now listed to 1st June 2022.Case Title: X v. State of Kerala & Ors.

Actor Assault Case: Kerala High Court Grants Time To Government To File Statement

Hannah M Varghese

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