Actor-assault case: HC dismisses survivor's plea to quash fact-finding inquiry on memory card

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday rejected a plea by the survivor in the 2017 actor assault case, in which actor Dileep is a co-accused. The plea challenged a fact-finding report dated January 8, 2024, submitted by the Ernakulam Sessions and District Judge. The survivor sought an investigation by an official of at least Inspector General (IG) rank into allegations of unauthorised access to a memory card containing visuals of the assault.

Dismissing the plea, the bench led by Justice C Dias stated that the survivor's request lacked legal grounds. The court noted that while she could seek other legal remedies, she could not make new demands in a plea that had already been closed.

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

She argued that the refusal to share the inquiry report and witness statements indicated bad faith on the part of the inquiry authority until the court stepped in, reported the LiveLaw. She also stated that a scientific investigation supervised by the court is necessary because the report indicated that the memory card had been accessed without authorisation and that its hash value had been altered.

Meanwhile, the respondents argued that the survivor's applications were invalid since the writ petition had already been resolved. They suggested that she should file a new writ petition to express her concerns.

The survivor, who has worked in Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada films, was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some persons who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017 and later escaped in a busy area. The entire act was filmed by those persons to blackmail the actress. There are 10 accused in the assault case, including actor Dileep, and police have arrested seven. Dileep was subsequently detained and jailed for nearly six months for his alleged links with the gang.

The current verdict came nearly two months after the Hema Committee Report, documenting challenges faced by Malayalam film industry workers, including sexual exploitation and abuse at the workplace, was made available to the RTI applicants. The Kerala government constituted the Justice Hema Committee in 2019 to analyse the issues faced by women in the Malayalam cinema industry following a petition by the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) in response to the actor assault case.