The Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition moved by the survivor in the 2017 actor abduction and sexual assault case seeking transfer of the case back to the Special Court from the District and Sessions Court. The case was transferred from the CBI Special Court to the District and Sessions Court, Ernakulam, where earlier CBI judge Honey M. Varghese, who heard the case, continued to try the case in her capacity as the sessions judge. With this order, the trial will be continued before Sessions Judge Honey M Varghese.
The survivor sought a change of court stating that she had lost faith in the trial court judge. She pointed out that a voice clip obtained from the mobile phone of actor Dileep, the eighth accused exposed that he and his men established contacts with the judge of the trial court and her husband, Excise Circle Inspector allegedly involved in the custodial torture case.
Despite clinching evidence of the accused having established contact with the judge, the judge has chosen to brazenly ignore it. Hence, the survivor apprehends that she will not get a just and fair trial.
She further stated that she now lives in constant fear that the visuals of the assault that was in the safe custody of the court may now surface anytime and may also go viral. The scientific examination of the memory card kept in the court by the Forensic Science Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram has found that the memory card has been unauthorisedly accessed on July 19, 2021, through a Vivo phone and there was a subsequent change in the hash value of the files. The survivor raised the concern and fear through her petition filed in the High Court seeking to withdraw the case pending on the files of Additional Special Judge (SPE/CBI), Ernakulam, and transfer it to any other court having jurisdiction to try the case.