Actress assault: Survivor moves Kerala High Court for fresh probe into memory card leak

The survivor in the 2017 actress assault case has moved the Kerala High Court seeking a fresh, court-monitored investigation into the alleged unauthorised access of the memory card containing visuals of the sexual assault [XXX v State of Kerala & ors]

She has also sought a copy of the pen drive containing the video recordings of the assault.

Advocate Vrinda Grover will be appearing for the actress.

The survivor had first approached the High Court in 2022 alleging unauthorised access of the memory card.

The High Court then had directed a fact-finding enquiry to be conducted by the trial court, however, after the enquiry report was submitted, the survivor raised objections to the manner in which the investigation was conducted, claiming that the probe by the trial court was not done in a fair and complete manner.

In April 2024, the High Court had directed that copies of the statements recorded during the enquiry be furnished to the survivor, while leaving open the question of whether a separate probe by an SIT was required.

The present plea comes months after the trial in the sensational case concluded with the acquittal of accused actor Dileep and the conviction of six others by a sessions court.

The appeal by the State against the same is currently pending before the High Court.

According to the present petition filed by the survivor-actress, forensic examinations revealed that the memory card containing videos of the sexual assault was accessed on three separate occasions - January 9, 2018, December 13, 2018 and July 19, 2021, when it was in the custody of the trial court.

The petition states that the possibility of copying and transmission of the videos could not be ruled out and that the unauthorised access amounted to serious violation of the survivor's privacy, dignity, and right to justice.

According to the petition, the allegations relating to the handling of the memory card were not properly investigated despite earlier directions issued by the Court.

Hence, she has sought the constitution of an SIT to conduct a comprehensive investigation along with the help of forensic experts.

There should be a re-investigation into the circumstances under which the memory card was accessed, copied, and transmitted without authorisation while it remained in the custody of the trial court, the plea states.

The plea was filed through advocates Vrinda Grover, KV Bhadra Kumari, Rhuthunanda SB, Arunima TS and Byja EG.