South actress sexual assault case: Dileep moves HC to prohibit media reporting the trial

Kochi: Actor Dileep, an accused in the 'actress sexual assault case', on Monday moved the Kerala High Court seeking an order prohibiting the publishing and broadcasting of matters related to the trial.

Dileep said both the investigating and the prosecuting agencies have "abandoned the trial in a court" and filed the petition against the state police chief, the investigating officer and a private television channel.

He said an "in camera trial" was mandated under 327 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code for the offence charged against him and the printing and publishing of the proceedings were unlawful.

"They (investigating and prosecuting agencies) have sponsored and resorted to media trials as the same has no accountability and can be easily sponsored especially in a period where fake news and forms of unethical journalism are prevalent and it is easy to choose a suitable media house and use their services to propagate falsehood about the trial of the case," the petition said.

The petition filed through advocate Philip T Varghese said there was a deliberate and concerted act of criminal contempt hindering the administration of justice by scandalizing the court and prejudicing the trial by publishing the proceedings of the trial conducted.

The actor also submitted that not only the private tv channel but other media- including print, digital and social media-- are now printing and publishing matters which amounts to criminal contempt.

The crime branch had on January 9 registered the case on a complaint filed by an investigating officer based on a purported audio clip of Dileep which was released by a TV channel recently in which the actor was heard conspiring to attack the officials.

The audio clips came out soon after a director, Balachandra Kumar, made some startling revelations against Dileep in the actress assault case through a TV channel.

The victim -- an actress who worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films -- was abducted and allegedly molested inside her car for two hours by some of the accused, who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017 and later escaped in a busy area.

The entire act was filmed by some of the accused to blackmail the actress. There are ten accused in the case and initially, police arrested seven people. Dileep was arrested subsequently and let out on bail later.

The case comes as the trial in the actress assault matter was progressing in a special court in Kochi.