KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday sought the response of actor Dileep and nine others to the appeal filed by the state government challenging the lower court’s ruling in the 2017 sexy actress sexual assault case.
The Supreme Court accepted the appeal, in which the state challenged the acquittal of Dileep and three others in the case, and also sought toughening of the sentence imposed on the six people who were sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting the actress.
A government lawyer associated with the case said a bench of Justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Gobin Sebastian issued notice to the six people convicted in the case and the four who were acquitted by the trial court.
Apart from Dileep, the eighth accused in the case, the court also acquitted three others Charlie Thomas, Sanil Kumar alias Maithri Sanil and Sarath.
The court convicted the first six accused in the case, Sunil NS (aka Pulsar Soni), Martin Antony, Manikandan P, Vijesh V P, Salim H and Pradeep.
The appeal claimed that the acquittal of Dileep and the others was “completely illegal and undeserved and also gives the wrong message to the society”.
She urged the Supreme Court to quash the acquittal and conviction of Dileep and the others for the crimes for which the first six accused were convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
It claimed that although the trial court found the first six defendants in the case guilty of the various crimes charged against them, it “failed miserably to impose appropriate imprisonment and fine on them.”
The State urged the Supreme Court to increase the prison sentence and fine imposed on the first six defendants, in relation to the crimes of which they were convicted, as it deems fit and proper “by taking into account the nature and seriousness of the crime committed by them, the trauma and suffering experienced by the victim and the fear it has created in the society.”
According to the prosecution, the eighth accused conspired with the first accused and ordered him to sexually assault PW1 and take her nude photos, as he had enmity and revenge towards her.
There were initially 15 accused in the case, three of whom were granted pardon and were questioned as witnesses, two others were released by the Kerala High Court, and the remaining 10 are facing trial in the case.
The 2017 assault on a multilingual actress, in which miscreants barged into her moving car on February 17 and held her captive for two hours, deeply shook the conscience of Kerala society.
The main accused, Pulsar Soni, sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of other convicts in the moving car.
Actor Dileep, who is accused of conspiring in the crime, was arrested during the investigation.
However, after a trial that lasted nearly six years, the court found him not guilty.
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