Kochi: Malayalam actor Dileep will be able to examine the visuals of the 2017 assault on the actress on December 18, a trial court said here while considering the case.
The Supreme Court had rejected Dileep's plea to have a copy of the memory card containing the visuals of the assault. The SC bench led by Justice A M Khanwilkar rejected Dileep's petition against an earlier Kerala High Court ruling on the crucial evidence in the sensational case.
The SC bench reasoned the visuals will not be provided to Dileep, an accused, considering the survivor's privacy and certain guidelines have been issued in this regard.
However, the SC bench has allowed the actor to watch and inspect the visuals.
The popular Malayalam actress was abducted and assaulted in a moving car near Kochi on February 17, 2017. First accused Sunil Kumar alias Pulsar Suni, a history-sheeter, was arrested soon after the incident.
Dileep was arrested by the police on July 10, 2017, for plotting the attack and was named as the eighth accused. But he was let out on bail on October 3, 2017. Dileep had denied any role in the attack and moved the court seeking all documents relevant to the case, including the assault visuals.
After the courts in Kerala rejected Dileep’s plea for a copy of the visuals, he had moved the Supreme Court. The HC had rejected his plea citing that the memory card was a ‘material object’ and not a document under Section 207 of Indian Penal Code.
The Kerala government had then accepted his plea to freeze the framing of charges against him in the case till the SC verdict on the issue.
