The female Malayalam actor who was abducted and sexually assaulted in 2017 has now moved the Supreme Court seeking probe into the alleged leaking of crime visuals from a lower court in the past, Onmanorama reported.
The survivor has submitted a letter to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court noting violation of her privacy with the visuals being leaked. She has sent a copy of the letter to President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the Human Rights Commission.
Citing news reports, the survivor said that visuals were accessed by someone at the Principal and Sessions Court of Ernakulam. She added that she faced grave injustice even though she hoped to get justice from the court.
It may be noted that the assault incident took place on February 17, 2017, and the entire crime was filmed by one of the accused to blackmail the actor. The next day, the first accused, Pulsar Suni, was identified and the visuals of the crime were recovered from him.
According to The News Minute, after a series of transfers to courts and forensic labs, in December, the visuals were shown to the accused (including actor Dileep who allegedly masterminded the crime) at the magistrate’s chamber. In March 2018, the pen drive and memory card were sent to the Principal and Sessions Court of Ernakulam. These visuals were at this court till March 16, 2019. And on December 29, 2019, the state forensic department had confirmed that the visuals were leaked from this trial court.
Besides, the survivor also referred to the revelations made by filmmaker Balachandra Kumar who alleged that actor Dileep and other accused had watched the visuals at his home when the court had denied the request to possess the same.
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The recent development comes at the time when Dileep along with his associates is facing a new trial in the conspiracy to murder case. On January 9, the Kerala crime branch had filed an FIR against Dileep and four others, for allegedly conspiring to kill police officials who investigated them, in the female actor abduction and assault case, in which Dileep is the eighth accused. The FIR was filed based on allegations raised by filmmaker Balachandra Kumar. Following this, the accused moved to the Kerala High court, seeking pre-arrest bail in the new case filed against them. The court is likely to pronounce the verdict in his bail plea on February 7.
In January this year, the survivor wrote to the Kerala CM seeking further investigation in the case in view of the recent revelations made by director Balachandra Kumar. She also publically opened up about the incident for the first time through her official social media account and extended her gratitude to all those who have supported her.
For a complete timeline of the female actor abduction and assault case, see here.