Kerala news: The Kerala High Court (HC) on Tuesday served notices to actor Dileep and nine other individuals allegedly accused of sexually assaulting a multi-lingual actress inside a four-wheeler in 2017. The action came after a trial court had acquitted Dileep and three others of the charges, following which the state government challenged the verdict in the High Court. 

HC directs Dileep to submit responses

A division bench of the Kerala HC, comprising justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Jobin Sebastian admitted the government’s appeal, and directed all the alleged accused to submit their responses, a government lawyer aware of the development said.

Dileep’s acquittal illegal and unmerited, says Govt

The Kerala government had filed a petition after Dileep and four of his alleged accomplices were cleared of the sexual assault charges. It said in the petition that the acquittal was ‘wholly illegal and unmerited.’ Notably, the other accused have been identified as Charley Thomas, Sanil Kumar aka Mesthri Sanil and Sarath. The appeal urged the HC to set aside the acquittal and hold them guilty of the same offences, for which the first six accused were convicted. 

The prosecution alleged that Dileep had conspired with the key accused, Sunil NS, known as Pulsar Suni, and had directed him to assault the actress sexually, as well as film her explicit visuals, reportedly over personal enmity. 

Earlier, the trial court had convicted six individuals named Sunil NS, Martin Antony, Manikandan B, Vijesh VP, Salim H and Pradeep. All of them were sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment. The state government contended that the punishment imposed was inadequate, owing to the gravity of the crime and the trauma which the survivor faced. The appeal sought enhancement of the imprisonment term and financial penalties against the convicted persons.

The case sent shockwaves across Kerala

The case dates back to February 17, 2017, when a group of men allegedly forced their way into a moving vehicle ferrying a prominent multilingual actress. The group allegedly held her captive for two hours and sexually assaulted her inside the car, while filming the act. The case sparked outrage across Kerala and also triggered a nationwide debate on women’s safety in the film industry. After six years of legal proceedings, the court eventually termed Dileep as ‘not guilty’, and convicted six other accused. The HC will now re-examine the case following the state’s appeal.