Kochi, Jun 5 The victim of the 2017 actress assault case has moved the Kerala High Court seeking a fresh probe into the alleged illegal access of the memory card containing visuals of her gangrape when it was in the custody of the subordinate courts.
In her plea, moved through senior advocate Vrinda Grover, the actress has claimed that the earlier inquiry carried out by the trial court on the High Court's direction was "conducted in direct violation of principles of natural justice".
The petition has claimed that the alleged illegal access to the memory card has "re-victimised" and "re-traumatised" her as she awaited justice from the court in the case.
The petition claims that the earlier probe was carried out by the judge in whose custody one of the instances of unauthorised access to the memory card occurred.
The actress, in her plea, has also claimed that the subsequent two inquiry reports of 2024 "do not inspire confidence" as the probe was conducted "in the shadow of secrecy without any assistance from independent experts, the police or the victim's participation", all of which were categorically stated in the High Court order directing the investigation.
The petition claims that the inquiry authority -- the trial court judge -- did not inquire into any undue financial enrichment or gains by those who illegally accessed the memory card and removed it from the lawful custody of the court.
According to the actress, the memory card containing videos of the sexual assault was accessed thrice between January 2018 and July 2021 when it was in the custody of the courts.
"The unauthorised and illegal access to video recordings of the gang rape of the petitioner, while it was in the custody of the court, not only infringes her inviolable right to dignity and privacy but also grievously undermines her right to justice enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India," the petition said.
"It also erodes the victim-survivor’s faith in the fairness and majesty of the judicial process and rule of law. The illegal access to the video recordings of the gang rape also re-victimised her while she awaited justice. This heinous attack on her dignity and privacy has re-traumatised the petitioner, who was already suffering extreme trauma," the petition has said.
The trial court had convicted and sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment to the first six accused in the case -- Sunil N S, also known as Pulsar Suni, Martin Antony, Manikandan B, Vijesh V P, Salim H, and Pradeep.
It had acquitted actor Dileep and three others in the case.
The 2017 assault on a multi-lingual actress, in which miscreants forced their way into her moving car on February 17 and held her captive for two hours, profoundly shook the conscience of Kerala society.
Prime accused Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video-recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
Actor Dileep, who was accused of conspiring in the crime, was arrested during the investigation. However, after a nearly six-year trial, the court found him not guilty.
