A Kerala court on Monday acquitted Malayalam cine actor Dileep in the 2017 case of sexual assault and gang rape of a famous actress [State of Kerala v. Sunil NS @ Pulsar Suni].
However, the Court convicted main accused Pulsar Suni and five others in the matter for offences of gang rape, outraging modesty of woman, criminal conspiracy and kidnapping.
The persons convicted are Sunil NS aka Pulsar Suni, Martin Antony, Manikandan B, Vijeesh VP, Salim H aka Vadival Salim and Pradeep.
They were found guilty of offences under 120B (criminal conspiracy), 342 (wrongful confinement), 354 (use of force to outrage modesty of woman), 366 (kidnapping), 354B (use of force to disrobe woman), 357 (use of criminal force to wrongfully confine a person) and 376D (gang rape) of Indian Penal Code.
All six were found guilty of conspiring to commit the offences under Section 66E (capturing, publishing or transmitting the image of a private area of any person without his or her consent) and 67A (publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act for video recording the sexual assault. However, only Suni was found guilty directly under these two provisions.
Martin Antony was additionally found guilty under Section 201 of the IPC which penalises causing the disappearance of evidence or giving false information to screen an offender.
"The acts of the Accused numbers 1 to 6 amounts to offence punishable under sections 120B read with 342, 354, 354B, 357 and 376D of IPC and Sections 66E and 67A of the Information Technology Act, 2001. Accused 1 to 6 are found guilty for the offences punishable under section 120B read with 342, 354, 354B, 357 and 376D of IPC and Sections 66e and 67a of the information technology act, 2001, they are convicted thereof," the Court's order stated,
The Court will pronounce their sentence on December 12.
Besides Dileep, Charlie Thomas, Sanilkumar aka Mesthiri Sanil and Sarath G Nair were also acquitted.
Ernakulam Principal District and Sessions Court judge Honey M Varghese delivered the much awaited judgment.
On February 17, 2017, the female actor was on her way to a film shoot location in Thrissur when she was abducted and sexually assaulted by a group of men, in a moving vehicle. The men also recorded videos of the assault.
The very next day, the driver of the vehicle, Martin Antony, was arrested and within a week, Sunil NS aka Pulsar Suni, a history sheeter, was arrested. Suni was named as first accused. By the end of the month, four others were arrested and arrayed as accused.
Suni remained behind bars for over 7 years until the Supreme Court granted him bail last year.
In July, 2017, Dileep was arrested for allegedly conspiring and orchestrating the rape to extract revenge as the survivor actress had informed his now ex-wife about his extramarital affair.
His first two attempts at getting bail were rejected by the Kerala High Court, until October 2017, when the Court finally granted him bail after he spent 83 days behind bars.
The accused were charged under the following Sections of the Indian Penal Code:
120B Criminal conspiracy;
109 Abetment of offence;
366 Kidnapping or abducting woman;
354 Use of criminal force on woman with intention to outrage modesty;
354B Use of criminal force on woman with intention to disrobe her;
357 Use of criminal force to wrongfully confine a person;
376D Gang rape;
201 Causing disappearance of evidence; and
212 Harbouring an offender; read with
34 Acts done with common intention
The following were the accused who stood trial:
A1. Sunil NS aka Pulsar Suni
A2. Martin Antony
A3. Manikandan B
A4. Vijeesh VP
A5. Salim H aka Vadival Salim
A6. Pradeep
A7. Charlie Thomas
A8. P Gopalakrishnan aka Dileep
A9. Sanilkumar aka Mesthiri Sanil
A15. Sarath G Nair
Sanilkumar and Sarath G Nair were added as accused in a supplementary chargesheet filed during the course of the case. One accused, named Vishnu, turned approver for the prosecution. Two other accused, Vipin Lal BL and Aneesh PK were pardoned and examined as prosecution witnesses.
Yet another duo accused in the case, advocate Pratheesh Chacko and his assistant Raju Joseph, were discharged during the course of the trial.
Read more about the case here.
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