KOCHI: In a major development in the 2017 actor assault and sexual assault case, the Kerala High Court on Friday directed the Ernakulam District and Sessions Judge to immediately transfer the memory card and pen drive containing visuals of the sexual assault to the Registrar General of the High Court in a sealed cover. The court also directed the Registrar General to keep them in safe custody until further orders.
Justice C S Dias issued the order while considering a petition filed by the survivor seeking to quash the report submitted by then trial judge Honey M Varghese on the alleged illegal access to the memory card while it was in court custody. The survivor also sought an investigation into the unauthorised access to the memory card and pen drive, and the possible copying and transmission of the eight video recordings of the crime through a Special Investigation Team under the supervision of the High Court.
When the petition came up for hearing, the Single Judge observed: “I am satisfied that the petitioner (survivor) has made out a prima facie case for an interim order. Hence, I direct the District and Sessions Judge, Ernakulam, to forthwith transmit the memory card and pen drive in question, in a sealed cover through a messenger, to the Registrar General of this Court. The Registrar General shall keep them in safe custody until this Court passes further orders.”
The court directed the prosecution to file a counter-affidavit within one month.
The survivor's petition stated that a forensic examination found the memory card had been accessed on the night of January 9, 2018, on December 13, 2018, at 9.58 pm and 10.58 pm, and on July 19, 2021, between 12.19 pm and 12.54 pm.
Following these findings, the High Court had directed the Ernakulam District and Sessions Judge to conduct a fact-finding inquiry. The report found that Leena Rasheed, then Judicial First Class Magistrate, Angamaly; Mahesh Mohan, then Senior Clerk to the Principal Sessions Judge and now a judge of the Kerala High Court; and Thajudeen, then Sheristadar of the trial court in Ernakulam, had accessed the memory card. However, disciplinary proceedings were initiated only against Mahesh Mohan and Thajudeen.
According to the survivor, the findings and conclusions of the inquiry report were reached without consulting any forensic expert or investigator.
Earlier, two judges of the Kerala High Court had recused themselves from hearing the matter.