While granting bail, the Supreme Court bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih issued strong criticism of the state government, highlighting that Suni has been incarcerated for over seven and a half years without the completion of his trial.
Published Sep 17, 2024 | 2:06 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 17, 2024 | 2:06 PM
Pulsar Suni.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 17 September, granted bail to Sunil NS alias Pulsar Suni, the prime accused in the alleged abduction and the subsequent assault of a female Malayalam actor in Kochi in 2017. Actor Dileep is the eighth accused in the case, who is under bail.
This marks the first time Pulsar Suni has been granted bail since his arrest and subsequent imprisonment.
The Kerala government had earlier filed an affidavit raising concerns that Suni’s release could pose a threat to the survivor, suggesting he might use the assault visuals to intimidate her.
While granting bail, the Supreme Court bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih issued strong criticism of the state government, highlighting that Suni has been incarcerated for over seven and a half years without the completion of his trial.
The court expressed concern over the prolonged nature of the proceedings and questioned when the trial would finally conclude. Additionally, the court noted that the ongoing cross-examination of another accused, actor Dileep, has contributed to further delays.
“It is an admitted position that evidence of all 268 prosecution witnesses has been recorded. The appellant has undergone incarceration for more than seven and half years. All other co-accused have been granted bail. We have perused the counter file by the respondent listing the antecedents of the appellant from the year 2006 to 2017. We have also noted the manner in which the trial has progressed,” said the court, reported LiveLaw.
“Accused number eight (Dileep) was cross-examined by investigating officer from 15 February, 2024 to 10 September, 24. The deposition of the said witnesses runs to 1,800 pages. Since 261 witnesses have been examined and the case involves nine accused, even recording of statements and Section 313 of the CrPC will take a long time,” the court observed.
It took note of the long incarceration and the fact that the trial was not likely to conclude within a reasonable time, and made a case for enlarging the appellant on bail.
“It will always be open for the state to seek stringent terms and conditions will be imposed. The appellant shall be produced before the trial court within one week for appropriate terms and conditions. The state shall be heard before finalising the terms and conditions. We agree with the learned senior counsel that cost should not have been imposed by the Kerala High Court. However, since the cause will go to the Kerala Legal Services Authority we are not interfering with the same,” the court added.
In an affidavit filed before the apex court, the state government had claimed that actor Dileep was attempting to fabricate narratives in the case aimed at undermining the prosecution’s evidence in the trial court and prolonging the trial.
These allegations were made in response to opposing the bail application moved by Pulsar Suni, the prime accused.
The government said that the survivor had already identified the first six accused involved in the crime and expressed concerns that granting bail to Pulsar Suni could disrupt the trial.
There is a possibility that the survivor may be threatened with the release of the assault footage to hinder the proceedings, the state government said.
It also highlighted the risk of Pulsar Suni fleeing if granted bail. The Supreme Court is set to hear Pulsar Suni’s bail plea on Tuesday, 17 September.
The developments come as the Kerala government and the Malayalam film industry are dealing with the outcome of the Hema Committee report, which was formed after this case came to light.
The actress-victim, who worked in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam films, was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some persons who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of 17 February 2017 and later escaped in a busy area.
The entire act was filmed by those persons to blackmail the actress.
On the other hand, in 2022, after reports emerged that the footage of the survivor’s assault was leaked, the survivor approached the Kerala High Court seeking an investigation into this.
She also sought an inquiry into the change in the hash value of the memory card of the device where the visuals of the incident were allegedly stored.
Appearing on behalf of the survivor, Advocate Gaurav Agarwal submitted that the memory card had been accessed three times while in court custody.
On 21 February 2024, in a setback to Dileep, the Kerala High Court directed the Ernakulam District and Sessions Judge to hand over a copy of the fact-finding report to the survivor in the actor sexual assault case.
In his affidavit placed before the Kerala High Court, Dileep said the allegations made by the government in the petition to cancel his bail were baseless. He added that these claims were rejected by the court many times before.
Dileep further stated that the trial court already examined 259 prosecution witnesses.
He asserted that there was no point in thinking that he would influence the investigating officer and the joint director of the forensic lab.
