Kerala actor assault case: HC reserves verdict in plea for more time to probe case

The High Court of Kerala has reserved its verdict in a petition filed by the Kerala police to extend the deadline to complete further investigation into the actor assault case of 2017. Justice Kauser Edappagath heard both the sides - the prosecution, representing the police, and the counsel of the accused actor Dileep, the alleged mastermind of the crime. The prosecution had asked for more time last week to complete the further probe, citing crucial evidence that came out in the past few months. The further investigation into the case, which was launched in the beginning of the year, was supposed to be over by May 30.

As per Bar and Bench, advocate TB Mini, appearing for the survivor actor, requested Justice Edappagath to avoid hearing the matter. She pointed out that the prosecution has alleged a leak of the memory card containing the visuals of the sexual assault, from the Principal Sessions court in Ernakulam, and that Justice Edappagath was then the judge of the court. The judge had recently recused himself from hearing another petition by the survivor actor, about her concerns in the investigation.

Advocate Raman Pillai, Dileep's counsel, launched an attack on the prosecution, claiming that "they are trying to malign the judiciary" by alleging a leak of the memory card from the court. To this, TA Shaji, Director General of Prosecution, replied that "such irresponsible allegations" should not be made and that the police only wanted an extension of time.

Shaji : with all due respect to my senior friend, such irresponsible allegations may not be made. We only want an extension of time. That is all. #keralahighcourt #dileep

— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) June 1, 2022

Dileep's counsel argued that the vigilance wing of the court will investigate such leaks from the court, and not the police. "The contention of the prosecution that there is a change in the hash value of the video and therefore they need more time should not be accepted. They are not the competent authority to investigate something like that," he said.

The hash value - a unique alphanumerical string of characters used to identify a device — was found to have been changed during the years it was in the custody of various courts. This would indicate that something in the content of the memory card has changed, though it is not clear what has changed. This finding by the forensic science lab was placed as one of the new evidences by the prosection, in their plea for time extension.

Read: Dileep case: Was the memory card tampered with? A cyber security expert explains

Dileep's counsel listed a number of instances of the prosecution seeking an extension in the case. However, the trial in the case was delayed by nearly three years after Dileep went from lower court to higher courts, with several petitions.

Read from archive: How the accused in Malayalam actor sexual assault case have delayed justice for 2 yrs

TA Shaji said that the video's hash value was only one of the grounds for asking more time for investigation. Earlier this year, when the police asked permission for further investigation into the case after new revelations came out last year, Dileep's counsel had opposed it too. The High Court had then dismissed their plea asking to quash the investigation.

“Your lordship permitted further investigation on a petition filed by them (Dileep). We could have challenged the short time that was given but we also wanted to complete it as fast as possible even though the amount of material to be examined is huge,” Shaji said.

Following this, Advocate Mini said that it would affect the survivor actor directly if the visuals of the attack on her were tampered with or leaked. "For last five years, I am living in the dark. This is a society where victims are not accepted. In such a situation, leaking the visuals, that media reports say are there on the phones of many individuals, affects me. I was in depression. Investigation is a must," Mini spoke for the survivor actor.