Kochi: The Kerala High Court has issued a notice to actor Dileep and nine others on an appeal filed by the state government challenging the trial court's judgment in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case.
The High Court admitted the appeal, which challenges the acquittal of Dileep and three others in the case and seeks enhancement of the punishment awarded to the six people sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting the actress.
A bench of justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Jobin Sebastian issued notice to the six persons sentenced in the case and the four who were acquitted by the trial court.
The trial court had convicted the first six accused in the case, including Sunil N S, Martin Antony, Manikandan B, Vijesh V P, Salim H, and Pradeep, and sentenced them to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.
The appeal has claimed that the acquittal of Dileep and the others was 'wholly illegal and unmerited' and urged the High Court to set aside the acquittal and hold them guilty of the offences for which the first six accused were convicted.
