2017 actress assault case: Supreme Court dismisses victim’s plea to change the trial court

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by a survivor in a sexual harassment case in which actor Dileep is an accused, seeking a transfer of the chance to another lower court.

The victim had alleged that Dilip, the eighth accused in the case, had a close relationship with the trial judge and her husband.

A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and C T Ravikumar said the Kerala High Court has already decided on the issue of bias in its judgment.

Rejecting the pleas of the petitioner, the High Court had on September 22 held that it was of the firm view that its apprehension about a possible interference with the fair trial was not justified.

“Probably, the discussions and debates conducted by numerous news channels for many days and months concerning this matter have created some misconceptions concerning the hearing of the case, and this can be evident from the overall public at massive, together with the petitioner. Influenced.

The supreme court had aforementioned, “Though I feel that the petitioner has filed this petition fully truth, I have all reasons to believe that she may be a victim of such misconceptions and allegations created by the media.”

The petitioner had argued that if the trial court were not changed, it would not get justice, and the trial would not be fair.

Incidentally, it was on the survivor’s petition that the High Court had set up a special court with a woman judge for the trial in 2018, which began in 2020.

The victim had also alleged in her petition that there were several instances where the Special Public Prosecutor could not proceed with the trial and repeated. Persistent attempts were made on Dileep’s part to influence and intimidate the witnesses.

It had said that when the judge was transferred from a special court as Principal Sessions Judge, the matter was transferred to his court, and he claimed that the case transfer by an administrative order was not legal.

Survivor, an actress who has worked in Tamil and Telugu films, was allegedly kidnapped and molested inside her car for two hours, forcing her into the vehicle on February 17, 2017.

According to the prosecution, the defendant recorded the complete act to blackmail the actress.