Dismissed cop PR Sunu moves Kerala High Court to expedite trial in rape case against him

PR Sunu, a Circle Inspector who was recently terminated from service with the Kerala Police, has approached the Kerala High Court seeking to expedite the trial in a 2021 rape case against him [Sunu PR v State of Kerala & Ors.]..Sunu is accused of raping a woman in 2021 which led to the registration of a crime against him. He was charged with offenses 376(2)(f), 376(2)(n), 376 C (a), 376(b), and 506 (Punishment for rape and criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 3(1)(w)(i) of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.The trial of the case is currently pending before the Thrissur Sessions Court. Sunu is currently going through departmental enquiry and insisted on speedy disposal of the said rape case through his petition before the High Court. He claimed that the offences alleged against him are false and that he is absolutely innocent..The prosecution case in the matter pending before the lower court is that, in 2021, he sexually assaulted a woman in a car and also in a flat in Marad, and threatened her by recording the scenes. In his plea, Sunu stressed that his innocence can be proved, only after this rape case against him is disposed of.He also said in his plea that he is willing to co-operate with the trial court for the speedy disposal of the case.“Due to the long pendency of the above case since 2021, no finality could have arrived, which again causes serious prejudice to the petitioner herein. Hence, at any rate, it is high time that the above case may be disposed of at the earliest in a time-bound manner to meet the ends of justice,” the plea said.The petitioner is represented by advocate Naveen Radhakrishnan.