The Kerala High Court on Friday directed the District and Sessions Court in Ernakulam to produce the memory card and pen drive containing explicit visuals related to the 2017 actor assault case before the High Court registry in a sealed cover. Justice C S Dias issued the order while hearing a petition filed by the survivor, seeking a reinvestigation into the alleged illegal access to the memory card.
Court Observations and Directions
During the hearing, the High Court observed that the petitioner had prima facie made out a case and instructed the registry to keep both the memory card and pen drive in safe custody until further orders. The bench also admitted the petition and directed the state government to file a counter-affidavit to the petitioner's averments within one month. The matter is scheduled for further consideration on July 13.
Petitioner's Arguments
Senior counsel Vrinda Grover, appearing for the petitioner, primarily challenged the inquiry conducted by the sessions judge and sought to quash the two inquiry reports submitted by the judge. The petitioner argued that although both reports indicated unauthorized access to the memory card and involvement of certain court officials, no penal action had been initiated against those responsible. Furthermore, it was contended that mobile phones allegedly used by officials to view the visuals by inserting the memory card were neither traced nor seized, raising concerns that the footage may have been copied.
Background of the Case
The survivor, a popular actor in Tamil and Malayalam films, was abducted and allegedly sexually assaulted in her car on February 17, 2017, by a group of men who forcibly entered the vehicle and recorded the incident on a mobile phone. The memory card containing the recordings was subsequently seized by police after the arrest of the accused and kept in judicial custody. At a later stage, a forensic examination revealed that the memory card entrusted to the court's custody had been illegally accessed on three occasions, prompting the survivor to seek an investigation into the matter.
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