Govt. challenges acquittal of Dileep, others in actor rape case in HC

The State government has challenged the acquittal of actor Dileep and three others in the 2017 actor rape case before the Kerala High Court. It also sought enhancement of the punishment awarded to the other six convicts in the case.

The acquittal of Mr. Dileep and others by the Ernakulam Sessions Court was “illegal and contrary to the evidence on record. The judgment was illegal and unsustainable, and liable to be set aside and modified.” The awarded sentence was “highly disproportionate and inadequate, considering the nature of the offences, the manner of execution, and the terror created in society.” The convicts were awarded only the minimum punishment for gang rape and appropriate punishment was not awarded for some other offences proved against them, the State contended.

According to the State government, the trial court gravely erred in law and on facts and failed to “undertake a comprehensive and holistic evaluation of the prosecution evidence in its entirety” against all the accused who have been charged with the same offences for being members of the criminal conspiracy. The judge made sweeping and stigmatic observations against the investigation and the Investigating Officer. The findings were “wholly uncharitable and contrary to the materials on record,” it argued.

The State contended that the court seriously impeached the credibility of the investigation, which was “unwarranted, perverse and without any iota of material supporting such conclusion.”

The trial court, which rightly found Pulsur Suni and five others guilty of the 11 offences charged against them, made no discussion regarding the role of Mr. Dileep, though the evidence adduced by the prosecution incriminated them equally. The illegality committed by the court led to a “complete failure in appreciating the prosecution evidence against the master conspirator along with other conspirators,” it argued.

The judge undertook “illegal exercises” due to her “preconceived notions and a lack of judicious appreciation of the prosecution evidence.” The first five accused and Mr. Dileep who “were participants in a chain of conspiracy hatched to commit various offences” on the survivor and “being members in the same conspiracy, are liable to be punished for all acts done by each of the conspirators.”

In the case of Mr. Dileep, “who is the master conspirator,” the Sessions Judge adopted a separate treatment and applied a different standard of appreciation of evidence by illegally dissecting the charges against him.” The reliable legal evidence against him was “rejected arbitrarily to grant him an acquittal.”

The discussions of facts related to the criminal conspiracy between Mr. Dileep and Pulsur Suni were dealt with in an improper way by rejecting them. The court wrongly appreciated the admitted and proved facts, which proved the primary conspiracy between Mr. Dileep and Pulsur Suni, “which resulted in the unmerited acquittal” of Mr. Dileep and resulted in serious miscarriage of justice.”