The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the trial of Malayalam film actor Dileep in a case of sexual assault of a woman actor in a car.
A Bench, led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, froze the trial proceedings till the court finally decides his plea made for a copy of the memory card believed to be crucial in the case.
The case is now likely to come up in July when the court re-opens after the summer vacations.
Dileep, through his counsel and senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, said there were several discrepancies in the police claim, and the memory card would prove him right. Unlike what the police claimed, the video seemed to have been shot not in a moving car. The car was stationary. “Human voices could be heard in the background,” he claimed.
The visuals of the alleged incident in the memory card, Mr. Rohatgi had submitted, would help to prove that it was not a “forced situation”.
He had argued that the clip was a “compendium of five or six distinct pieces” and Dileep had “no connection” with the alleged incident that happened in February last year.
Mr. Rohatgi had argued that the original mobile phone or memory card was untraceable and a copy of the visual came out when an accused shared it with his lawyer, who turned it over to the Magistrate.
The Kerala government had countered that the memory card was not a document under Section 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, but only a “material object.”
The State has contended that the case was registered based on the victim’s statement. She had already identified the visuals and her attackers. Her statement and other collected evidence made out a clear case.
The State said the memory card, which was recovered only three days after the alleged sexual assault, corroborated the statement of the victim. “The supply of a copy of the memory card to the petitioner/accused is strongly objected to on the main ground that there is no guarantee that the contents thereof will not be leaked out, thereby causing extreme damage to the pride, dignity, privacy and peaceful life of the victim. Thus, the accused will achieve the very purpose for which this crime was committed,” the government had argued to counter Dileep’s plea.
