Access of memory card in the custody of court “unfair and tragically shocking”: Survivor

Survivor expresses shock over privacy violation in sexual assault case, seeks justice through honest judiciary.

Two days after a fact-finding inquiry conducted by the Ernakulam district and Sessions Judge found that the memory card containing the visuals of sexual assault of an actor was accessed illegally while in the custody of the Court, the survivor has said that it was “unfair and tragically shocking” that her privacy was violated in such a manner.

In a post shared in her Instagram page on April 13, she said that her right to privacy was violated through the multiple changes in hash value of the memory card, indicating unauthorised access, while in the custody of the court.

“It is very scary to know that my privacy is not currently safe in the court. When a victim faces such a horrible experience from the court which is supposed to strengthen her fight for justice, it is the ones who are hurt that get destroyed and the ones who inflicted that hurt who end up feeling proud,” she said.

She ends the post on a positive note, expressing hope that the era of honest judiciary is not over. “I will continue my fight until I get justice with the hope that the sanctity of the judicial system, the last resort of every Indian citizen, will not be destroyed,” she said.

In an affidavit filed before the Kerala High Court seeking to reject the inquiry report and order a probe by a police special investigation team under the supervision of the court into the incident, the survivor, citing the inquiry report, alleged that Leena Rasheed, the then JFCM, Angamaly, Mahesh Mohan, personal assistant of the then Principal and Sessions Judge, who is now a judge of the Kerala High Court, and Thajudeen, then Shirstadar of the trial court, Ernakulam, had accessed it.

She pointed out that a mere reading of the inquiry report indicated that several persons, including the judicial officers, kept in their personal custody the memory card and the pen drive for months and years without valid reasons. The survivor said the inquiry was conducted to safeguard the culprits.

After the popular woman actor was allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted by a group of men inside a moving vehicle on February 17, 2017, she filed a police complaint immediately. The men directly involved in the act were nabbed within a week. Actor Dileep, the alleged mastermind, who was arrested a few months later, underwent 85 days of incarceration.