The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Sunil N S alias Pulsar Suni, the prime accused in the 2017 actor abduction and sexual assault case, taking into consideration his prolonged duration of the ongoing trial and detention for the past over seven years.
“The appellant has undergone incarceration for more than seven and a half years. All other co-accused have been granted bail… Since 261 witnesses have been examined and the case involves nine accused, even recording of statements under section 313 of the CrPC will take a long time. Considering the long incarceration and the fact that the trial is not likely to conclude within a reasonable time, a case is made out for enlarging the appellant on bail,” a bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal observed.
The Court also took note of the fact that all other co-accused had already been granted bail. Suni had moved to the apex court after the Kerala High Court rejected his bail plea earlier on this June 6.
Suni, who has been in custody for over years, is accused of conspiring with Malayalam actor Dileep and others in the abduction and sexual assault of the actress in a moving vehicle near Kochi in February 2017.
Opposing his plea for bail, the Kerala Government had in an affidavit accused actor Dileep, who is an accused in the case, of attempting to create unsubstantiated counter-stories through lengthy cross-examination of prosecution witnesses in order to undermine the evidence in the case.
The affidavit further asserts that if Pulsar Suni is granted bail, there is a risk that he might make public sensitive visual evidence, potentially threatening the survivor’s privacy and undermining the trial.
The state government also said that if Pulsar Suni is granted bail, he could possibly hamper the trial or abscond the legal process.
“It is quite definite that such a person will make all efforts possible to torpedo the trial process either by absconding from the legal process or by threatening the privacy of victim by publishing the visuals of sexual assault on victim. If the accused is released on bail, that will cause serious prejudice especially when the trial is nearing to conclude shortly,” it added.
it may be recalled that noted Malayalam actress was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some persons 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 those persons to blackmail the actress.