Kerala sexual assault case victim alleges unfair trial

The Kerala actress abduction and sexual assault case witnessed a serious development on Friday with the victim and even the prosecution raising suspicions over the fairness of the trial court before the Kerala High Court.

The victim had earlier filed an application before the High Court seeking a transfer of the case from the trial court raising concerns over the attitude of the court towards the victim. The trial was earlier assigned to the CBI special court with a woman judge by the High Court considering the victim's plea.

On Friday when the High Court considered the victim's plea to shift the trial, the prosecution also stated that victim often faced harassment during the trial and the court hardly controlled it. Around 20 lawyers representing the accused, which included actor Dileep, were present for examining the victim during the in-camera trial and the victim faced severe harassment. But the court did not make any interventions to protect the victim.

The special prosecutor in the case A Sureshan would be submitting a detailed report in this regard in a sealed cover to the HC. The HC would be considering the case again on Monday.

The prosecution had earlier filed an application before the trial court to stop the proceedings for moving the High Court. But the trial court dismissed it.

Around 80 witnesses were already examined. Many witnesses from the film fraternity turned hostile. A section of actors had strongly flayed the witnesses turning hostile. Many like Parvathy Thiruvoth had even quit the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists over the row.

The actress was abducted and sexually assaulted by a gang, allegedly engaged by Dileep to settle personal scores in February 2017 at Kochi. The gang allegedly shot the video of the assault. Dileep was arrested in this connection in July 2017 and was granted bail in October.