Actress Assault Case: Kerala High Court Reserves Order On Dileep's Appeal Against Providing Statements Of Witnesses Examined In Inquiry To Survivor

Justice N. Nagaresh and Justice P.M. Manoj heard the arguments of counsel appearing on behalf of the actor and the Survivor and reserved its order.

The Counsel appearing for the actor stated that the victim cannot file interim applications in a petition that attained finality since it was disposed of on December 7, 2023.  Relying upon Apex Court judgments, it was argued that the applications could not be filed in a case that was disposed of since there were no pending proceedings. It was stated that the order of the single was not maintainable since the judgement had attained finality.

On the other hand, Advocate Gaurav Agarwal appearing on behalf of the survivor stated that the fact-finding inquiry was conducted at her insistence since her fundamental rights were violated due to alleged illegal access of the memory card. It was argued that the impugned order of the single judge was made in a writ petition under Article 226 and was thus maintainable. It was also submitted that the accused has no right to state that the victim should not be provided copies of statements of witnesses examined during an inquiry conducted at her insistence. It was also argued that the single judge would hear on the maintainability of the interim applications on May 30, 2024, and the present appeal was filed only to delay reliefs to the survivor.

Brief Background

The plea was filed by the survivor of a 2017 sexual assault case seeking a court-monitored investigation into the alleged leakage of visuals from the Memory Card and the change in hash value of the memory card thereof which was kept in court custody during the pendency of the proceedings. 

The writ petition was heard and disposed of on December 7, 2023. The Court directed the Ernakulam District and Sessions Judge to conduct a fact finding enquiry on the allegations raised by the survivor pertaining to unauthorized access and copy and transfer of the visuals from the Memory Card and Pendrive relating to the incident while it was in court custody. The Court also laid down guidelines to be followed by law enforcement agencies and Courts while handling sexually explicit materials to ensure that it was not leaked or transmitted.

The survivor was denied a copy of the inquiry report and was constrained to approach the Court for a copy of the inquiry report. The High Court directed the Ernakulam District and Sessions Judge to provide a copy of an inquiry report to the survivor vide an order dated February 21, 2024. Again, the victim filed two interim applications before the High Court seeking to set aside the inquiry report and to provide copies of statements of witnesses examined during the inquiry. The High Court directed the Ernakulam District and Sessions Judge to provide copies of statements of witnesses to the survivor vide an order dated April 12, 2024, which is under challenge in the present appeal.

Case Title: P. GOPALAKRISHNAN @ DILEEP v XXXX

Case Number: WA 581/ 2024