Govt appeal in actor assault case: Kerala HC issues notice to actor Dileep, others

Kochi: High court on Tuesday condoned a 17-day delay by the state govt in filing an appeal against the trial court judgment in the 2017 actor assault case and admitted the appeal. Only six of the 10 accused were convicted and sentenced in the case while actor Dileep and three others were acquitted,A bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Jobin Sebastian also issued notices to the respondents/accused, including actor Dileep. The time limit prescribed under the CrPC for filing appeals in such cases is 60 days. As the state filed the appeal with a delay of 17 days beyond the prescribed period, it also filed an application seeking condonation of the delay in filing the appeal, which was allowed. HC adjourned the appeal on May 19 for further consideration.The survivor, a popular actor who works in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, was abducted and allegedly sexually assaulted in a car on Feb 17, 2017, by a group of men, including N S Sunil alias Pulsar Suni, the first accused, who allegedly forced their way into the vehicle. Police later arrested the accused persons. However, further investigation into the conspiracy allegedly revealed that Suni, pursuant to a criminal conspiracy allegedly hatched with Dileep, agreed to carry out the crime against the survivor for monetary consideration. Accordingly, Dileep was arrested and arrayed as the eighth accused in the case.After a seven-year trial, the principal sessions court, Ernakulam, convicted Suni along with five others — Martin Antony, B Manikandan, V P Vijeesh, H Salim and Pradeep — and sentenced them to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment along with fines. The remaining accused — Charlie Thomas, Dileep, Sanil Kumar and Sarat G Nair — were acquitted.In its appeal, the state mainly challenged the acquittal of the four accused. It also contended that the sentence awarded to the convicted persons is highly disproportionate and inadequate considering the nature of the offences, the manner in which they were executed and their impact on society. The appeal further argued that the convicted persons were awarded only the minimum punishment for the principal offence of gang rape and that, for certain other offences for which they were found guilty, appropriate punishment was not imposed.