Kerala court frames destruction of evidence charges against actor Dileep in actress assault case
Kochi, Oct 31: A Kerala court on Monday framed charges of destruction of evidence against actor Dileep in the 2017 actress assault case in which he is one of the accused.
The court framed charges under Sections 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and 204 (destruction of electronic record or document to prevent its production as evidence) of the Indian Penal Code against the actor and his businessman-friend Sarath, Dileep's lawyer Philip T Varghese said.
The court read out the charges to the actor and his friend who denied the same and thereafter, the case was listed on November 3 for scheduling of witnesses by the prosecution, Varghese said.
From November 10 onwards, the examination of witnesses in connection with these two additional charges would commence, the lawyer said.
On October 28, the court had dismissed the actor and his friend's pleas in which they had claimed that the charges were not made out against them.
These charges were invoked against them by the police in an additional charge sheet filed by it in July this year after carrying out a further probe into the 2017 case based on certain revelations made by director Balachandra Kumar.
The sexual assault survivor, an actress who has worked in Tamil and Telugu films, was allegedly abducted and molested in her car for two hours by 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 the accused to blackmail the actress, according to the prosecution. There are 10 accused in the case.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
