Actor assault case: HC rejects survivor’s plea to cancel fact-finding probe on memory card | Onmanorama news

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday rejected a survivor’s plea in the 2017 actor’s assault case, in which actor Dileep is a co-accused. The plea challenged a factual report dated January 8, 2024 submitted by the Sessions and District Judge, Ernakulam. The survivor requested an official of at least Inspector General (IG) rank to investigate allegations of unauthorized access to a memory card containing images of the attack.

The court, presided over by Justice C. Dias, rejected the plea and said that the survivor’s request had no legal basis. The court found that while she could seek other remedies, she could not bring new claims in a cause of action that had already been closed.

The survivor claimed that the investigation was conducted in secrecy and that she was not allowed to reveal her side of the story. She also alleged that officials denied her a copy of the investigation report, citing confidentiality.

She argued that the refusal to share the investigation report and witness statements indicated bad faith on the part of the investigative agency until the court intervened, LiveLaw reported. She also stated that a scientific investigation under judicial supervision was necessary because the report showed that the memory card had been accessed without authorization and that its hash value had been changed.

Meanwhile, the defendants argued that the survivor’s motions were invalid because the lawsuit had already been adjudicated. They suggested that she submit a new written request to express her concerns.

The survivor, who has acted in Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada films, was kidnapped and allegedly molested in her car for two hours on the night of February 17, 2017 by some people who forcibly entered the vehicle and could later escape area. The entire act was filmed by these people to blackmail the actress. There are 10 accused in the assault case, including actor Dileep, and police have arrested seven. Subsequently, Dileep was arrested for his alleged links with the gang and sentenced to almost six months in prison.

The latest verdict came almost two months after the Hema Committee’s report, which documented the challenges faced by workers in the Malayalam film industry, including sexual exploitation and abuse at work, was made available to RTI applicants. The Kerala government set up the Justice Hema Committee in 2019 to analyze the issues faced by women in the Malayalam cinema industry after the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) filed a petition in response to the actors’ assault case.