KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday sought to know why actor Dileep, the eighth accused in the 2017 actor abduction and sexual assault case, is objecting to an investigation into the illegal access of a memory card while it was in the custody of the trial court. The HC noted that the state government does not have any objection to the investigation.
“What is your (Dileep’s) objection? This is a matter purely between the court. A document produced in the court has been tampered with. Somebody has committed a crime. You are only an intervener, you can just submit the matter,” the HC said.
The counsel for the survivor argued that an investigation is essential to identify the culprits and determine the extent of the transmission of the allegedly leaked video.
The court considered the survivor’s petition seeking a probe by a special investigation team by registering an FIR on the unauthorised access to the memory card and pen drive while it was in the custody of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Angamali, and the Principal Sessions Judge, Ernakulam. She also requested that the investigation be headed by an officer not below the rank of an Inspector General of Police and carried out under the supervision of the court with periodic reports.
During the argument, the court asked, “Does the petitioner have a case that you (Dileep) are the one who tampered with it?” Advocate Philip T Varghese, counsel for Dileep, told the court that the attempt is to place the blame on him without directly saying so.
The petitioner said the inquiry by the district and sessions judge, as directed by the High Court, had found that three persons — a former Angamaly court magistrate and two court employees — accessed the memory card containing the visuals of the 2017 assault and rape of the actor.
Memory card accessed thrice: Survivor’s counsel
In the affidavit filed before the High Court, the survivor, citing the inquiry report, alleged that Leena Rasheed, the then JFCM, Angamaly; Mahesh Mohan, senior clerk of the then Principal and Sessions Judge who is now a judge of the Kerala High Court; and Thajudeen, the then shirstadar of the trial court, Ernakulam, had accessed it.
Gaurav Agarwal, counsel for the survivor, submitted that the memory card containing sensitive evidence had been accessed illegally three times, violating the survivor’s fundamental rights. An inquiry into this tampering was necessary to preserve the integrity of the judicial process. Despite the inquiry confirming the tampering, the district court failed to register an offence to unearth the truth, he submitted.
The court has reserved its order on the survivor’s petition.