In a latest update in the sexual assault case of a female actor, in which Malayalam actor Dileep was named as one of the main accused, the survivor has now approached the Supreme Court.
The survivor has come forward seeking permission to file for an intervening petition in a case that the court is hearing regarding handing over visuals of the assault to Dileep. She has stated that if the court grants permission, she will demonstrate why a cloned copy of the footage from the memory card should not be given to any of the accused individuals including Dileep.
In her application, the actor has said that this would ensure a fair trial without her privacy being infringed or the rights of the accused being ignored.
When the case was set to go to trial in May in a special CBI court in Ernakulam, Dileep filed an appeal in the Supreme Court asking for a copy of the visuals on the memory card. He alleged that the visuals were morphed and that by getting a copy of them he would be able to prove his innocence. As per section 207 of the CrPC, a document can be handed over to the accused. However, the Supreme Court had brought up the point as to whether a memory card can be equated as a document.
It was in February 2018 that Dileep’s first plea to get a copy of the memory card was rejected by the Angamaly Magistrate court. Following this it was also rejected by the Kerala High Court in August of the same year.
Dileep then went to the Supreme Court. In May 2019, the SC had stayed the trial in the case as the Kerala government asked for more time to present their case. The Kerala government had objected to Dileep's petition and said that he could not be trusted with the visual and was capable of leaking it to malign the survivor.
Dileep has been accused of being the mastermind behind the abduction and sexual assault of the actor in February 2017.