Actress Assault Case: Kerala HC judge recuses from hearing plea in 2007 case involving Dileep
A judge of the Kerala High Court recused himself in an open court from hearing a plea of the survivor of the 2007 actress assault case. This comes in after the survivor filed a petition with the HC.
FollowJustice Kauser Edappagath, of the Kerala High Court judge, on Tuesday, recused himself from hearing a plea by the survivor of the 2017 actress assault case involving Malayalam actor Dileep. Alleging political interference and a move to derail the probe, the survivor moved the Kerala HC seeking its intervention in the matter and seeking that the petition should be not heard by Justice Edappagath.
In her plea to the HC, the survivor raised serious allegations against the trial court. She said in her plea that the presiding officer has some "vested interest to save the culprits". The survivor's plea comes in after the investigating agency, the Crime Branch of Kerala police, has reportedly decided to wind up the investigation into a related case of alleged tampering with digital evidence.
The actress in her plea said, "It is painfully submitted that the Government of Kerala which gave support to the cause of the petitioner/victim at the initial stage and allowed a fair investigation in the case by police officers of high integrity and took credit of the investigation politically has backtracked from its constitutional legal commitment of conducting a free, fair and complete investigation in the case."
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Her petition also alleges that the Malayalam actor, Dileep, who is one of the accused in the matter, has unlawfully influenced some of the politicians of the ruling party in the state. "...it is reliably learned that the prosecution as well as the investigation agency are now threatened by the political higher-ups to end up the investigation half the way and file the additional final report in a half-cooked manner. This clearly establishes the illegal nexus between the accused and the ruling front," she said through her plea.
The actress further raised allegations against the trial court, the petition said it was clear from the records that the "illegal access/tampering was done" while one of the digital evidence was in judicial custody.
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The petition further alleged that even though the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) authorities had submitted a report to the court, the judge did not make any entries in the court records and kept the same.
"The act of the presiding officer is highly suspicious...the conduct of the presiding officer in obstructing investigation in this matter clearly shows that she (the judge) wants to illegally help the culprits and she is privy to all these heinous acts," the plea said.
Furthermore, the actress alleged that Dileep was capable of "playing any heinous tricks to influence anybody" and doing "any blackmailing techniques to keep others under his captivity".
The survivor actress who has worked in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu film industries, was allegedly abducted and molested in her car for two hours by some of the accused. The incident reportedly took place on the night of February 17, 2017. At least seven out of the 10 accused have been arrested in the case. Actor Dileep was also arrested by the cops but was later released on bail.
