Actor Assault Case | Kerala Bar Council Pulls Up Crime Branch For Leaking Privileged Communication To Media

The Bar Council of Kerala on Sunday lashed out at the Crime Branch for leaking privileged communication between a lawyer and his client in the 2017 sexual assault case to the media. 

A meeting was convened to consider the complaint filed before the Council seeking appropriate legal action against the police officers who allegedly leaked a telephone conversation between Senior Advocate B. Raman Pillai and actor Dileep who is accused in the assault case.

The Bar Council took serious objection to the Crime Branch's manner of handling digital evidence in the case and declared that it sees the matter as a serious lapse on the part of the investigation unit while deciding to raise a complaint with the State. It has suggested legal action against the responsible officers.

According to the Bar Council, communications between an advocate and a client are privileged and it was illegal to leak them to the media. 

"Even the courts cannot direct for privileged communication to be published," it said.

In his complaint, Advocate V. Sethunath had stated that the police officers committed illegality by revealing the privileged communication between lawyers and their clients to the media and were acting in furtherance of the same. The complaint also submitted that the police were proceeding taking steps to conduct an inquiry into the privileged communication exchanged between the lawyers and their clients.

It was pointed out that the Indian Evidence Act provides protection to the professional communication and confidential communication of a client with their legal advisors, and so does the BCI Rules on Professional Standards.

The lawyer, therefore, sought a directive to the police officers not to conduct an inquiry into the privileged communications they collected.

This development comes as a further setback to the Crime Branch after a recent reshuffle in the Crime Branch that handles the 2017 actor assault case. ADGP S Sreejith, who was the chief of the Crime Branch had been transferred very recently which brought about much resistance from the opposition parties and Women in Cinema Collective. They expressed their disappointment over the transfer at a crucial juncture in the probe in the case.