State moves Kerala HC against trial court verdict in actor assault case

Kochi: The state govt has moved high court against the trial court verdict in the 2017 actor assault case that acquitted four of the 10 accused, including actor Dileep. The govt's plea has also challenged the awarding of only the minimum prescribed sentence for the offence of gang rape to six of the accused.HC is likely to consider the appeal next week. According to prosecution, Pulsar Suni, pursuant to a criminal conspiracy allegedly hatched with Dileep, the eighth accused, agreed to carry out the crime against the survivor for monetary consideration and committed the offence on Feb 17, 2017, along with five other accused. On that day, while the actor was travelling from Thrissur to Kochi for a film shoot, the accused allegedly staged a fake road accident, abducted and wrongfully confined her in a vehicle, intimidated and sexually assaulted her, and recorded the assault on a mobile phone.The police initially arrested the first six accused. During the subsequent investigation into the alleged conspiracy, the alleged role of Dileep was purportedly revealed, following which he and the other accused were arrested. After a seven-year trial, the principal sessions court, Ernakulam, convicted Pulsar Suni along with five other accused — 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 govt has contended that the sentence awarded to the convicted accused is highly disproportionate and inadequate, considering the nature of the offences, the manner of their execution, and the impact on society. It argued that the convicted accused 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. The govt has therefore sought modification of the sentence.Separate approach to DileepThe appeal contends that although the first six accused and the eighth accused, Dileep, were alleged to be participants in the conspiracy to attack the survivor, the trial court erroneously adopted a separate approach and applied a different standard in appreciating the evidence against the actor.The state has also claimed that despite placing 10 pieces of evidence to establish the presence of Pulsar Suni, the first accused, at the shooting location of the movie ‘Sound Thoma', in which Dileep played the lead role, to prove the conspiracy, the trial court arrived at an erroneous conclusion that the prosecution had failed to prove his presence at the location.Further, the appeal states that the prosecution's case rested on motive—namely, the alleged animosity of Dileep towards the survivor on account of the breakdown of his marital relationship with his first wife, after she was allegedly informed by the survivor about his illicit relationship with another actress. However, the prosecution contends that the trial court erroneously appreciated the evidence while acquitting Dileep.