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The survivor is yet to get justice in the 2017 actor assault case, Malayalam actor Manju Warrier said in a social media post on December 14. Declaring her support to the survivor, Manju stated that the “mind enabled this act still walks free” and that justice will be complete only when everyone behind this crime is held accountable.
“I have utmost respect for the Honorable Court. But in this case, justice for the survivor is still incomplete. Only those who committed the crime have been punished,” she wrote.
“The mind that planned and enabled this heinous act, whoever that is, still walks free, and that is terrifying. Justice will be complete only when everyone behind this crime is held accountable. This is not just for one survivor. This is for every girl, every woman, every human being who deserves to walk with courage, heads held high, without fear in their workplaces, on the streets, and in life,” Manju’s insta post read. She signed off saying, “With her. Then, now, and always.”
On December 8, almost eight years and nine months after the crime, judge Honey M Varghese of the Principal District and Session Court in Ernakulam had convicted six persons for abducting and sexually assaulting the actor.
However, the court acquitted actor Dileep, the eighth accused who had been charged with masterminding the crime. In a judgement spread over 1500 pages, the court exonerated Dileep of any part in the conspiracy behind the crime. According to the court, only the first and second accused, Pulsar Suni and Martin Antony, were part of the conspiracy.
Manju Warrier was previously married to actor Dileep. According to the prosecution, the survivor had told Manju about Dileep’s extramarital relationship with Kavya Madhavan in 2012. Dileep allegedly blamed the survivor for his divorce. In an act of revenge, the prosecution had argued, Dileep contracted Pulsar Suni to kidnap, sexually assault, and record nude visuals of the survivor.
Shockingly, Dileep’s first statement to the media after his acquittal on December 8 was, “The conspiracy against me started when Manju said that there was a conspiracy behind the crime.” In February 2017, two days after the crime, Manju had said that there was a conspiracy behind the assault on her friend and colleague, during a solidarity meet held in Kochi.
Earlier on December 14, the survivor too had issued a statement listing six reasons why she lost faith in the trial court. These included the illegal access of the memory card while in court custody, and a hostile judge.
