[Actress Assault Case] Kerala High Court Dismisses Actor Dileep's Appeal Against Order Providing Witness Statements To Survivor

Justice N. Nagaresh and Justice P.M. Manoj dismissed the appeal filed by Dileep today.

On April 12, 2024, the single judge of Justice K Babu directed the Ernakulam District and Sessions Judge to give the survivor copies of statements of persons examined during the fact-finding inquiry in an interim application filed by the survivor. The single judge stated that it did not intend the fact-finding inquiry to be treated as confidential and held that the survivor has the right to get copies of statements of witnesses. 

The Single judge had posted the matter to be heard on May 30, 2024, regarding the maintainability of the interim applications filed by the survivor. 

This was appealed by the actor before the Court alleging that the survivor cannot file interim applications in a petition that was disposed of on December 07, 2023. Relying upon Apex Court judgments, it was argued that the High Court cannot exercise its jurisdiction to entertain applications in a case that was already disposed of.

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 in the 2017 actor sexual assault case 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 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 a statement of witnesses vide an order dated April 12, 2024 which is under challenge in the present appeal.

Case Citation: 2024 LiveLaw Ker 270

Case Title: P. GOPALAKRISHNAN @ DILEEP v XXXX

Case Number: WA 581/ 2024