[Actress Assault Case] Kerala High Court Reserves Order On Application Filed By Survivor Seeking To Quash Fact-Finding Inquiry Report

Justice C S Dias reserved for order the application filed by the survivor to set aside or quash the fact-finding inquiry report dated January 08, 2024, submitted by the Ernakulam Sessions and District Judge.

The writ petition filed by the survivor was disposed of by the High Court with a direction to conduct a fact-finding inquiry into the allegations that the memory card containing videos of the sexual assault had been accessed, copied and transferred unauthorizedly while it was in the custody of the Court.

The survivor had approached the High Court with other applications in the writ petition which was disposed of. One application was filed seeking a copy of the fact-finding inquiry report since it was denied to her stating that it was confidential. Pursuant to the order of the High Court, the fact-finding inquiry report was given to the survivor. Another application was filed by the survivor seeking copies of statements of persons examined during the inquiry. The Court allowed this application and directed the copies of statements of persons examined during the inquiry to be given to the survivor.

Senior Advocate Gaurav Agarwal, appearing on behalf of the survivor alleged that the fact-finding inquiry was conducted in secrecy without even hearing her. It was alleged that she was not even provided records of enquiry reports or depositions of witnesses and this shows malafides on the part of the enquiry authority until the intervention of the Court. The survivor further alleges that the enquiry report was legally and factually unsustainable and that basic norms to be followed in a fact-finding enquiry were not observed.

The survivor further alleges that the fact-finding enquiry was conducted without taking expert evidence and without taking any scientific evidence. The survivor alleged that the enquiry report wrongly found that the contents of the memory card were never copied or transmitted without conducting a scientific examination of the memory card. It was argued that a proper scientific investigation is required with an expert body under the supervision of the Court. The survivor also seeks direction from the Court to register separate cases regarding illegal access of the memory card and to conduct individual investigations into it.

The survivor argued that her fundamental rights had been violated, that she had suffered psychological and emotional trauma and that she should not be left without any legal remedies. The survivor further contended that only an expert study would logically bring a conclusion to the allegations since even the inquiry report shows that the memory card was unauthorizedly accessed and that its hash value was changed. It was also argued that the accused must not be given any right to object to the investigation by the expert body.

On the other hand, Advocate Philip T Varghese contended that miscellaneous applications were not maintainable after the disposal of the writ petition. It was argued that interim applications could not be entertained in a petition that was already disposed of.

Case Title: XXX v. State of Kerala

Case Number: W.P. (Crl.) 445/ 2022