Kerala pleads derailment of justice in 2017 actor assault case, moves SC

The actor, who is also the victim of alleged sexual assault, says she has ‘lost faith’ in the trial court and she was not expecting any justice from it.

The Kerala government on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court challenging the Kerala high court order dismissing the plea to change the trial court judge in the 2017 case of an actor’s abduction and assault.

Kerala government has now moved the Supreme court seeking change of trial court judge hearing the sensational abduction and assault case. (Amal KS/HT PHOTO)

In the petition, the government contended that there were apprehensions whether the victim will get justice. It also pointed out that the Supreme Court had laid down several guidelines for dealing with sexual assault cases and some of them were not met during the proceedings.

During the trial, the survivor had alleged that she was cross-examined by a battery of lawyers and in-camera proceedings were flouted. Though she made repeated objections, they were overruled, she had claimed. She had moved the HC saying “she lost faith in the trial court and she was not expecting any justice from it.”

The special public prosecutor in the case, A Sureshan, resigned from the post last week after the HC turned down the prosecution, survivor and the government’s pleas to change the judge of the court.

Last month, the prosecution and the survivor had moved the high court alleging ‘a discriminatory approach’ by special judge Honey M Varghese who is hearing the case. In the sensational case, many witnesses had turned hostile during the trial and both alleged that the court failed to take any action.

The prosecution had moved the court earlier to cancel the bail of Malayalam actor Dileep, the eighth accused in the case, saying some of the witnesses were influenced by him but the trial court had turned it down.

The high court refused to entertain the pleas and directed the lower court to resume the trial. The court had also reminded the protesting parties that a woman judge was appointed on the request of the survivor and now it can’t entertain a plea that even a male judge can conduct the trial. The trial in the sensational case is however stalled after the resignation of the prosecutor.

The 31-year old woman had alleged that she was abducted and sexually assaulted in a moving car by a criminal gang at the behest of someone while she was returning from a shoot in 2017. There were 10 accused in the case. They allegedly recorded the assault before letting her go after a three-hour ordeal and threatened to release the video if she approached the police.

The main accused Pulsar Suni, an alleged history sheeter, had reportedly told the victim that he was given a quotation (a contract crime) and was forced to do this.

However, the gutsy actor complained to the cops the next day, leading to the arrest of all the accused directly involved in the crime. Since there was a strong speculation that the assault was carried out at the behest of someone, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested Dlieep six months later and he spent three months in jail. The case has witnessed several twists and turns in three years.