The Kerala High Court on Thursday pulled up the state government over its stand in the actor abduction and sexual assault case, in which actor Dileep is an accused. After the Kerala government told the Supreme Court that charges cannot be framed immediately against Dileep till his petition in the Supreme Court is disposed of, the High Court asked the state government how it was possible for it to decide on the matter when the case is still being heard by the trial court. Dileep has moved the Supreme Court seeking the visuals of the assault.
The High Court also asked the state if it was aimed at deliberately delaying the trial, reports Manorama.
The High Court made the observations while considering the bail application of Pradeep, who is the sixth accused in the case. The court has rejected bail for Pradeep, who was the driver of the vehicle used by the accused to abduct the survivor. The court also observed that if bail is granted, there were possibilities that the accused will destroy the evidence, reports Times of India.
The single bench of the High Court on Thursday also said that the trial should be completed within six months and that the accused was trying to delay the trial by filing appeals in different courts. Dileep, who is the eighth accused in the case, has filed 13 petitions in different courts with various demands over the last two years. Apart from seeking the visuals of the attack, Dileep had also demanded a CBI investigation into the case, accusing the state police of a bias against him.
Dileep, accused of masterminding the sexual assault, had earlier approached the sessions court and High Court to get the copy of the visuals of the assault stored in a memory card. But both the courts had turned down the accused actor’s plea.
Dileep then approached the apex court with the same plea to get the copy of assault visuals. Dileep’s counsel Mukul Rohatgi argued that the visuals were doctored to deliberately frame the actor and they had the right to access the ‘document’ to prove the accused’s innocence. SC will consider the case on May 1.
The trial proceedings which were to begin in Additional CBI court in Ernakulam on April 10 has been delayed after the Kerala state government agreed to not frame charges against actor Dileep and the other accused, till Dileep's petition seeking visuals of the assault, is disposed of by the Supreme Court.