Kerala HC extends interim stay order of trial in Kerala actress attack case

Kochi (Kerala) [India], November 16 (ANI): Kerala High Court has extended till this Friday the interim stay order of the trial in the Kerala actress case. Court will pronounce the order on Friday.
Justice VG Arun gave the order while considering the transfer applications filed by the prosecution and the victim seeking to shift the trial to another court.
The public prosecutor submitted in the court, "We sought to avoid confrontation with the Court, we tried to adjust to a maximum, but we reached a tipping point when the victim was cross-examined continuously for hours. He (Accused actor Dileep) tried to prolong the case in one way or another. These circumstances exist in this case, and we were not sitting as mute spectators. We brought these circumstances to the court's notice repeatedly."
"Imagine the feelings of the victim when she had to detail her ordeal, that too before 15-20 advocates in the courtroom. The kind of cross-examination in the case with so many lawyers in the courtroom completely defeated the purpose of an in-camera trial. Even the prosecutor was unable to function, the Court itself was against him. It is settled law that a judge cannot sit as a mute spectator in a rape trial," the public prosecutor added.
The Judge ought to have referred the prosecution's grievances to the High Court which appointed her, instead, she heard dormant petitions made by the accused and took it up on a daily basis.
After this, she recorded that the prosecutor was absent. The Trial Judge did not halt hearing the matter even after the prosecution expressed its reservations, the public prosecutor added.
The victim's counsel stated that "Even after the trial was deferred, the Presiding Judge went ahead and heard interim petitions in the case." (ANI)