Actor assault case: Kerala HC asks sessions court to send memory card to state forensic lab
KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the additional special sessions court, Ernakulam, to forward the memory card containing the visuals of rape in the 2017 actor abduction and sexual assault case to the state forensic lab, Thiruvananthapuram, for examination to ascertain if the card was accessed illegally.
While quashing the order issued by the sessions court rejecting the state government’s plea to forward the memory card, Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas directed the court to “immediately, at any rate not later than two days from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment, forward the document to the State FSL, through the mode envisaged by law.”
The court further directed the State FSL to analyse the document as requested in the forwarding note and submit a report to the investigating officer with a copy to the court in a sealed cover within an outer period of seven days from the date of receipt of the document. The court reiterated that the timelines specified must be adhered to without fail so that further investigation and trial in the case are not delayed.
The court issued the order on the appeal filed by the state government challenging the order of the Additional Special Sessions Court rejecting the plea of the crime branch seeking to forward the memory card for examination.
The court observed that the investigation cannot be permitted to enter into a roving inquiry into matters which it has no authority to pursue. Access to a document after it was produced in a court cannot be a matter of investigation or relevant for investigation under any circumstances whatsoever, since only the court can pursue that, in view of the bar in taking cognizance under section 195 of the CrPC.
However, the present requirement of the investigation is not for initiating any action, but only for ascertaining certain details, which it assumes to be of relevance in the investigation. If in case, during the trial, the court is called upon to form an opinion on the electronic document, especially that relating to the change in hash value or the details of the memory card, the prosecution must be able to provide the requisite evidence.
“If the probe officer is not allowed to produce before the court such opinion, which may explain the change in the hash value or its impact, it can lead to a failure of justice. Therefore, declining to allow the request to forward the document for analysis is a manifest error. The order is therefore liable to be set aside,” held the court.