Actor sexual assault case: HC seeks accused's stand

One-liner: The Kerala HC on Tuesday sought the response of all the accused, including actor Dileep, on the state's appeal against a trial court's order, declining its pleas to summon more witnesses in the actor sexual assault case.

Notice issued to accused: A judge issued notice to all the accused in the case, seeking their stand on the prosecution's two separate petitions and listed the matter for further hearing on Jan 6.

• The prosecution, in one of the petitions, has sought original customer applications in respect of 25 mobile numbers, including that of Dileep, in accordance with Section 65 (B) of the Evidence Act
• The fresh certificates have been sought as the earlier ones did not furnish the entire details, the petition has said

Decision challenged: It has challenged the trial court's Dec 21 decision dismissing its application seeking the call records and original customer applications.

• In the second plea, the prosecution has challenged the dismissal by the trial court of its petition to summon 16 witnesses for further evidence
• The trial court, on Dec 21, had allowed the summoning of three witnesses and rejected the request for summoning others

Illegal and improper: On summoning of the witnesses, the prosecution has contended that the lower court order to the extent it rejected the application for recalling some of the witnesses and allowing summoning of only three were illegal and improper.

Victim, an actor:  The victim, an actor who worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, was abducted and allegedly molested inside her car for two hours by the accused, who had forced his way into the vehicle on the night of Feb 17, 2017.

Background: The entire act was filmed by some of the accused to blackmail the actress. There are ten accused in the case and initially, police arrested seven people. Dileep was arrested subsequently and let out on bail later. 

Source: PTI