The Supreme Court of India on Monday gave the Ernakulam Addition Special Sessions Court yet another extension of six months to complete the trial of the case of the abduction and sexual assault of a female Malayalam actor in which actor Dileep is the eighth accused, The Hindu reported.
The order was passed by a bench led by Justice AM Khanwilkar on the basis of a letter from the trial judge seeking extension. The trial court had reasoned that the pace of the hearing was affected due to the lockdown post the second wave of Covid-19.
The Supreme Court had provided a similar six-month extension in March this year after the trial court approached the apex court. The Supreme Court had permitted the extension “by way of indulgence and as a last opportunity.”
With the deadline set by the apex court coming to an end in August, the trial court sought further extension in completing the trial. According to The New Indian Express, over 100 witnesses were yet to be heard as of July.
In December 2019, the Supreme Court set the deadline for the district court to complete the trial in six months. After a hiatus, the trial resumed in January 2020. However, the deadline was extended for another six months in August 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Supreme Court had then ordered for the trial to end on February 4, 2021.
The case so far
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A female Malayalam actor was abducted in February 17, 2017, while she was travelling from Kochi to Thrissur in Kerala. She was sexually assaulted and then dropped off. Soon after the incident, the first accused in the abduction case, Pulsar Suni, the driver of the vehicle she was assaulted in, was arrested. In June 2017, Pulsar Suni said that actor Dileep had conspired in the assault.
On July 20, 2017, Dileep was arrested as the eighth accused in the case. He was granted bail in October 2017. The prosecution counsel has alleged that the trial proceedings were constantly being delayed ever since he was released.
The trial resumed in January this year after a hiatus of three months.