The Supreme Court on Friday, February 17, 2023, directed a trial court in Kerala to expeditiously proceed with the recording of the testimonies of 32 witnesses left in a sexual assault case in which Malayalam actor Dileep is an accused, while the survivor described the offence allegedly committed on her as “gruesome”.
A Bench led by Justice J.K. Maheshwari listed the case on March 24.
The court recorded that the parties involved should cooperate with the timely conduct of the trial. The trial judge was asked to submit a progress report.
Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Siddharth Dave accused the State of Kerala of delaying the trial every time it came close to completion.
“Every time the deadline comes close they file an application for additional witnesses,” Mr. Rohatgi argued.
He submitted that many of the additional witnesses which the prosecution seeks to examine were “irrelevant” to the case. Mr. Rohatgi said 237 witnesses had already testified in the trial.
Senior advocate R. Basant, for the survivor, objected to the line of argument. He said the accused cannot determine which witness was relevant or irrelevant. It was the forte of the State. “The crime committed is gruesome,” Mr. Basant said.
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar and advocate Nishe Rajen Shonker, for the State, said the examination of the remaining witnesses would take 30 working days.
In the previous hearing on February 13, the apex court had expressed its exasperation at the “protracted trial” before the Ernakulam court.
On September 5, the Bench had directed the trial to proceed on a day-to-day basis.
Dileep had at the time filed an application in the Supreme Court saying the trial was being “protracted at the instance of the prosecutrix so as to evade a final verdict”. He had also complained to the top court that the trial had not proceeded expeditiously. He had alleged that he was subjected to a media trial.
The apex court had directed the trial court in Kerala to complete the trial preferably before January 31, 2023.
According to the prosecution, the survivor, also an actor, was assaulted by a group of men in a moving car in 2017.
