‘I used to be dwelling in darkness for the final 5 years,’ Kerala actor assault case survivor tells HC

By Express News Service

KOCHI: In an emotional plea, the survivor within the 2017 actor abduction and sexual assault case on Wednesday instructed the High Court that she was dwelling in darkness for the final 5 years and that she fell into despair for a while after listening to experiences that the visuals of the assault had been leaked.

“For the last five years, I was living in darkness. This is a society that is not accepting the victims. I was actually in depression after hearing the reports that the visuals were allegedly leaked,” submitted TB Mini, counsel for the sufferer, when the state authorities’s petition looking for three extra months time to finish the additional probe within the sensational 2017 actor abduction and sexual assault case.

She added that if the visuals are tampered with or leaked, it can have an effect on the survivor’s life. “There should be an investigation in the findings of the prosecution regarding the probable leak of visuals. A fair and free investigation is needed to unearth the truth and without conducting this, no final report should be filed by the crime branch,” counsel argued.

The Kerala High Court reserved its order on the petition after the completion of the arguments by the survivor, actor Dileep’s counsel, and the prosecution. The prosecution approached the courtroom for extra time to finish the investigation because the deadline mounted by the courtroom had expired on May 31. The counsel for the sufferer submitted that if the visuals are tampered with or leaked, it can have an effect on the survivor’s life.

Justice Kauser Edappagath who reserved the order earlier within the day declined the plea by the counsel for the survivor that the decide be recused from listening to the petition as he had heard the actor assault circumstances when he had served because the Ernakulam Additional Sessions Judge. The decide stated that he couldn’t recuse from listening to the petition as he had already handed the order granting time on the primary petition.

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When the petition got here up for listening to, Dileep’s counsel submitted that the explanations cited for extra time had been baseless. One of the grounds was that the reminiscence card containing the visuals of the sexual assault needed to be despatched for examination to the forensic science laboratory because it was accessed by many instances and its hash worth had been modified. The hash worth was discovered to vary in 2020. In truth, the prosecution had not taken any steps over the past two years to get it examined. The police couldn’t examine the leakage of the contents of the reminiscence card from the custody of the courtroom. The High Court vigilance had already began an inquiry into the difficulty. Besides, the try of the prosecution was to malign the judiciary.

The Director-General of Prosecution submitted that as regards the reminiscence card, that was solely one of many grounds looking for extra time. The smooth copy of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) experiences relating to the 6 cellphones utilized by Dileep and others accommodates greater than 2 lakh pages and contains 11161 movies, 11238 audio clips, greater than two lakh photographs, and 1597 paperwork. This additionally requires time for additional verification, he submitted.