The Ernakulam District and Sessions Court will consider on Friday, the legal issue of framing of charges against the accused in the actor rape case based on the supplementary final report filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the case.
The SIT had slapped the additional charge of destroying evidence in the actor rape case on both actor Dileep, the eighth accused in the case, and his friend Sarath, the 11th accused. The SIT had carried out further investigation following the revelations of filmmaker Balachandrakumar that he had witnessed Dileep and others watching the visuals of the alleged rape at Dileep’s Aluva residence.
The district court on Thursday asked the special public prosecutor to resume his arguments in the case. Though the public prosecutor contended that he will resume the arguments after the High Court decided on survivor’s plea for a transfer of court, the court refused to heed him.
Before Jan. 31, 2023
The special judge noted that the Supreme Court, while allowing the extension of time to complete the trial, had asked the court to conclude the proceedings at the earliest, preferably before January 31, 2023. The apex court had also sought a report from the court on the progress of the trial within four weeks. The district court is not at a liberty to interpret or explain the orders of the apex court but has to comply with its directives, noted Honey M. Varghese, the district judge.
The district court cannot entertain the plea for adjourning the arguments in the case especially when the apex court has issued orders to conduct day-to-day trial in the case, the judge noted. The copies of the supplementary final report were provided to the accused on Thursday.
