Kochi, The Kerala High Court on Friday sought a response from the state government on a plea by the survivor in the 2017 actor assault case seeking an SIT probe into the alleged illegal access of a memory card containing visuals of the crime.
Justice C S Dias admitted the petition and issued notice to the state government, giving it time to file its counter-affidavit within one month.
Justice Dias also directed the District and Sessions Court in Ernakulam to send, in a sealed cover to the Registrar General of the Kerala High Court, the memory card and pendrive containing the visuals and the reports of the enquiry earlier carried out.
The High Court said that the sealed cover shall be kept in safe custody by the Registrar General till further orders.
It issued the direction saying that the petitioner, represented by senior advocate Vrinda Grover, has made out a prima facie case for an interim order.
Earlier this week, two different judges of the High Court had recused from hearing the matter.
The survivor has sought a fresh probe by a Special Investigation Team , supervised by the High Court, into the alleged leak of the contents of the memory card and pendrive.
{{/usCountry}}The survivor has sought a fresh probe by a Special Investigation Team , supervised by the High Court, into the alleged leak of the contents of the memory card and pendrive.
{{/usCountry}}In 2022, the survivor had approached the Kerala High Court alleging that the memory card containing visuals of the assault had been accessed illegally.
Subsequently, in 2023, the High Court directed the Principal District cum Sessions Court, Ernakulam, to conduct an inquiry into the allegation.
She had alleged that there was unauthorised access to the memory card while it was in the custody of the Magistrate and Sessions Court in Ernakulam before the commencement of the trial.
Last year, the Principal District and Sessions Court, Ernakulam, acquitted actor Dileep in the case.
The court, however, convicted six persons who were found to have directly participated in the abduction and sexual assault.
The case relates to the abduction and sexual assault of an actor in a moving vehicle while she was travelling from Thrissur to Kochi on February 17, 2017.
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