On February 17, 2017, people across the country were left in a state of shock when the news splashed across that a Malayalam actress has been abducted and sexually assaulted. It happened when the actress was returning home after work. And another shock set in when it was reported that the top actor of the Malayalam film industry is involved in the crime, Dileep. The superstar is said to be the mastermind behind this assault. It has been two years to this case and as per the latest reports, Supreme Court has stayed trial against Dileep in this 2017 case. Dileep Missing at Case Hearing; Lawyer Says He Has Personal Issues.

On June 28, 2017, Dileep was interrogated by the Kerala Police and on July 10 he was arrested and was remanded by the court. On conditional bail the actor was released by the Kerala High Court on October 3. It was in June 2018 when the Malayalam actor filed a plea mentioning that the state police was trying to frame him in the case and requested the case to be handed over to the CBI. During the course, there were many who came in support of the victim and even revoked the actor from numerous organisations. Filmmakers hesitated to work with him and many actors refused to share screen space with him.

The order of the trail to be stayed was passed by the Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Ajay Rastogi. Dileep had filed a plea requesting to grant access to the memory card which has video footage of the assault and it was reportedly transferred from main accused Pulsar Suni’s phone. Mukul Rohatgi, a former Attorney General of India, Dileep’s counsel argued that the memory should be treated as a document and not as an object. About granting access to the memory card a source revealed, “If, on the contrary, the memory card is treated as a material object or evidence attached to the chargesheet, then the accused cannot be supplied a copy of the object,” reports TNM. First the Angamaly Magistrate court and later the Kerala High Court had rejected Dileep’s please to access the memory card. Dileep's Plea For a CBI Investigation In Malayalam Actress Assault Case Rejected by Kerala High Court.

Here’s the tweet shared by ANI:

Advocate Cherunniyoor P Sasidharan Nair told TNM, “The Material Object or MO can be used in a trial. It cannot, however, be copied; but only perused. In this case, since the contents of the memory card are of a sexual assault, it is a matter of her privacy and hence, it will be kept confidential. In order to ensure it is heard without any prejudice, the lawyer of the accused can be present while perusing the content after furnishing the necessary documents.” The next date of hearing will take place in the third week of July. Stay tuned for further update.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 03, 2019 04:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).