KERALA, (India): The Kerala government has approached the High Court challenging the recent sessions court order acquitting actor Dileep of all charges in the 2017 actress assault case.
In its appeal, the state government sought the conviction of Dileep as well as three others acquitted by the trial court — Charlie Thomas, Sanilkumar aka Mesthiri Sanil, and Sarath G Nair.
The state government has also sought enhancement of the sentence awarded to the convicted persons, namely Sunil NS aka Pulsar Suni, Martin Antony, Manikandan B, Vijeesh VP, Salim H aka Vadival Salim and Pradeep.
Ernakulam Principal District and Sessions Court judge Honey M Varghese, in December 2025, acquitted Dileep and three others, while convicting six other accused in the case.
The sessions court sentenced the six convicts to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment, which is the minimum prescribed punishment under Section 376D (gang rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Dileep’s acquittal and the awarding of the minimum sentence drew severe criticism from various quarters.
Following this, Law Minister P Rajeev said that the government would appeal against the verdict and stand with the survivor.
In its appeal, the state government contends that the acquittals are illegal and unsustainable, arguing that the trial court failed to conduct a holistic evaluation of the evidence regarding the alleged larger conspiracy.
The prosecution maintains that the evidence on record establishes a primary conspiracy between A8 and A1 dating back to 2013, motivated by personal enmity against the survivor, and that the subsequent actions of A1 to A6 were in furtherance of that conspiracy.
The actress was sexually assaulted on the evening of February 17, 2017, while she was returning to Kochi from Thrissur after a film shoot.
The actress had come to Kochi in an SUV arranged by production company KL Creations.
The very next day, the driver of the vehicle, Martin Antony, was arrested, and within a week, Sunil NS, aka Pulsar Suni, a history sheeter, was arrested.
Suni was named as the first accused. By the end of the month, four others were arrested and arrayed as accused.
In July 2017, Dileep was arrested for allegedly conspiring to orchestrate the rape, allegedly in retaliation after the actress informed his then-wife about his extramarital affair.
On Dec 8, the Sessions Court acquitted Dileep of all charges. - The Statesman/ANN
