THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Pocso special fast-track court here has declined the request of a 31-year-old man, who was accused of raping a minor girl, seeking possession of the video footage of the gory incident that has been submitted by the prosecution as evidence. The accused had moved the request before Judge R Jayakrishnan. The man, who is a resident of Kesavadasapuram, was accused of raping a 16-year-old girl at Kochar road in 2017.
The girl was raped while she was returning home from school. The accused had later allegedly fled the place, police had claimed. The video footage depicting the crime was retrieved by the police team from a CCTV camera installed by the residence association. It was this footage that helped the police trace the culprit. The accused had sought the footage saying it was required for preparing his argument.
However, special public prosecutor R S Vijay Mohan objected to the request and argued that the visuals could be misused by the accused. The prosecution said the Supreme Court had ruled against handing over video footage of the crime to the accused in the infamous actress abduction-rape case registered in Kochi.