After a stay order which lasted nearly 7 months, the trial in the 2017 case of abduction and sexual assault of a prominent actor in Kerala, will finally begin on Saturday.
The case is listed for preliminary hearing in the Additional Special CBI Court in Ernakulam and will be heard by Justice Honey M Varghese. The survivor had earlier requested for a woman judge to hear the case.
The trial is set to begin after the Supreme Court on Friday (November 29), rejected a plea by Dileep, who is the 8th accused in the case, requesting a copy of the memory card which contains video clippings of the attack. Dileep had argued that the visuals in the memory card were morphed and that receiving a copy of it could help prove his innocence.
However, the court rejected his plea citing that it was impossible to ‘track the misuse of the cloned copy and its safe and secured custody.’
Justices AN Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari who heard the petition also asked the trial court hearing the actor assault case to dispose the matter within 6 months, if possible.
“We direct the trial court to ensure that the trial is concluded expeditiously, preferably within six months from the date of this judgment,” the order read.
Timeline of the case
In February 2017, a prominent woman actor from the Malayalam film industry was abducted and sexually assaulted by a gang of men in a moving SUV. The assault took place between Thrissur and Kochi, with the actor restrained by the men inside the moving vehicle for close to 2 hours before she was dropped off at a director’s house. The accused men recorded videos and photos of assault on the survivor, who filed a complaint with the Nedumbassery police on the same day.
The first chargesheet in the high profile case was filed on April 18, 2017 and a subsidiary chargesheet in which actor Dileep was named accused was submitted on November 22, 2017.
On February 23, 2017, Sunil Kumar aka Pulsar Suni - the prime accused in the case - surrendered before the Angamaly Chief Judicial Magistrate Court where he was arrested. Soon after Pulsar Suni’s arrest, rumours of actor Dileep’s involvement in the attack on the survivor began spreading.
Although he attempted to rubbish the buzz by posting on social media that the ‘media was cooking up malicious stories’ about him, by June, the actor was interrogated by the police for 13 long hours over his alleged involvement in the crime.
On July 10, 2017, the Kochi police finally arrested Dileep for allegedly conspiring to carry out the abduction and sexual assault of the survivor.
He was named 8th accused in the case and was let off on bail on October 3, 2017 after he spent 85 days in prison following arrest.
Among the others accused in the case are Martin (accused number 2), who was the survivor actor’s driver. Martin, who was driving the survivor from Kochi to Thrissur on the day of the incident, is alleged to have co-ordinated with Pulsar Suni regarding the time and location of the assault.
The accused persons have been charged under IPC sections 120 A (criminal conspiracy), 120 B (punishment of criminal conspiracy), 109 (Punishment of abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage), 354 (assault or criminal force in woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354 B (assault or use of criminal force on woman with intent to disrobe) 357 (Assault or criminal force in attempt wrongfully to confine a person), 376 B (intercourse by public servant with woman in his custody) 106(i) ,201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 212 (harbouring offender), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).
The preliminary hearing will be heard in the trial court on Saturday where framing the charges against the accused persons will be done
The 2 year old actor assault case was stayed by the Supreme Court in May 2019, following Dileep’s petition seeking a copy of the visuals. The court had asked the Kerala government to clarify on certain technicalities pertaining to the memory card, which contained the visuals of the attack transferred from first accused Pulsar Suni’s phone. With the govt seeking time to make this clarification, the court asked for the trial to be stayed until Dileep’s petition was disposed.