Kochi, Jun 8 A Kerala High Court judge on Monday recused himself from hearing a petition filed by the survivor in the 2017 actor assault case seeking a probe into the alleged illegal access of a memory card containing visuals of the crime.
Justice Jobin Sebastian recused himself from the case, observing that he had been holding charge as Registrar (District Judiciary) when the survivor had earlier raised a similar complaint on the administrative side of the High Court.
The petition will now be placed before another bench for consideration.
In 2022, the survivor approached the Kerala High Court alleging that the memory card containing visuals of the assault had been accessed illegally.
Subsequently, in 2023, the High Court directed the Principal District cum Sessions Court, Ernakulam, to conduct an inquiry into the allegation.
The survivor last week moved the High Court seeking a probe by a Special Investigation Team comprising cyber experts into the alleged unauthorised access to the memory card while it was in the custody of the Magistrate Court and Sessions Court in Ernakulam before the commencement of the trial.
Last year, the Principal District and Sessions Court, Ernakulam, acquitted actor Dileep in the case.
The court, however, convicted six persons who were found to have directly participated in the abduction and sexual assault.
The case relates to the abduction and sexual assault of an actor in a moving vehicle while she was travelling from Thrissur to Kochi on February 17, 2017.
