The New Indian Express News

'Justice not equal for all': Actor abduction case survivor calls out Dileep's acquittal

KOCHI: The survivor in the 2017 actor abduction and sexual assault case has come out against the trial court verdict acquitting actor Dileep , the eighth accused. In a social media post, she stated, After years of pain, tears, and emotional struggle, I have come to a painful realisation: not every citizen in this country is treated equally before the law. At the end of the day, this verdict made me realise how strongly human judgment can shape decisions. I also know that not every court functions in the same way, she added. She explained that she had written letters to the President of India and the Prime Minister, expressing concern and seeking intervention. She began the post by putting the date December 12, 2025. It stated that after 8 years, 9 months, and 23 days, she finally saw a small ray of light at the end of every long and painful journey. Six of the accused have been convicted, and for that, I am grateful. This moment is dedicated to those who chose to call my pain a lie, and this case made up a story. I hope you are at peace with yourselves today. To those who still keep saying that the accused number one was my personal driver, this is completely false. He was not my driver, not my employee, and not someone I knew. He was a random person who happened to be assigned as a driver for a movie I worked on in 2016. Ironically, I met him once or twice during that time, and never again, until the day this crime happened. She requested everyone to stop spreading false stories. Mollywood split as Mollywood push back against the rush to reinstate Dileep According to her, the verdict may surprise many people, but it did not surprise her. As early as 2020, she began to feel that something was not right. Even the prosecution noticed changes in the way the case was being handled, especially when it came to one particular accused. She also approached the High Court and the Supreme Court multiple times against the court. Every request to move this case away from the same judge was dismissed, she said. She also cited several reasons for losing faith in the trial court. She said that her fundamental rights were not protected. The most important evidence in the case-the memory card- was found to have been illegally accessed three times while it was in court custody. Two public prosecutors resigned from this case during the trial. They stated that the court environment had become hostile towards the prosecution. Both of them personally told me not to expect justice from this, as they felt it was biased. She repeatedly requested a proper investigation into the tampering of the memory card. However, the investigation report was never given to her, until she kept asking again and again. While I was fighting for a fair trial, the accused filed a petition requesting that this same judge continue to hear the case. This raised even more serious doubts in my mind. I requested the court to conduct the proceedings in an open court, so that the public and media could be present and see for themselves what was happening. This request was denied, she stated. Kerala government to appeal against acquittal of Dileep in 2017 actor assault case