The Bar Council of Kerala has decided to write to the state government regarding the leak of audio clips of confidential conversations between lawyers and their clients in the 2017 female actor abduction and sexual assault case.
Actor Dileep is currently facing trial as the chief conspirator in the abduction and assault case. He is also being investigated for allegedly conspiring to kill the investigating officers in that case.
Recently, an audio clip of a conservation between Dileep’s brother Anoop and one of the actor’s lawyers had surfaced on the internet.
It has been alleged that the cops probing the case are involved in leaking such audio clips to the media.
In one of the audio clips, a lawyer is heard directing Anoop to give false statements in court in favour of Dileep. The lawyer appears to be asking Anoop to testify against actor Manju Warrier, Dileep’s ex-wife.
Following the leak of confidential conversations between the two parties, a complaint was filed by advocate V Sethunath before the bar council. He stated that police officers have “committed illegality” by releasing audio clips with privileged information and has sought legal action against them.
His complaint further pointed out that the Indian Evidence Act provides protection for professional and confidential communication between a client and their legal advisors. The complainant also urged for the issuance of a directive to the police officers to not probe into any confidential conversations sourced by them.
On Sunday, a meeting was convened by the bar council to consider this complaint.
Some lawyers had reportedly approached the council seeking action to protect the lawyers and prevent what they termed as the attempts to derail the process of dispensation of justice.
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KN Anilkumar, the chairman of the bar council, said that they are distressed over “the tendency to personally target judges” who were presiding over trials in various cases, and added that they will write to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday, highlighting the issue.
Meanwhile, the survivor in the assault case had reportedly submitted voice clips of Dileep’s lawyers to the Bar Council. This will serve as more evidence against the lawyers. It is learnt that the bar council will seek an explanation from the lawyers over the new evidence.
Earlier, the survivor submitted her complaint to the bar council alleging professional misconduct on the part of actor Dileep’s lawyers. She claimed that they attempted to influence some of the witnesses in the assault case by offering money and property.