SC grants bail to main accused in 2017 actress assault case in Kerala

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 17 September gave bail to Sunil N S, the main accused in the 2017 actress assault case in Kerala in which actor Dileep is also an accused.

A bench of Justices A S Oka and Pankaj Mithal was hearing Sunil's plea challenging the Kerala High Court order dismissing his bail application in the case. He is also known as 'Pulsar Suni'.

The bench considered his long period of incarceration of over seven years and also that the trial proceedings in the case were not likely to conclude soon.

The top court said Sunil should be produced before the trial court within a week for imposition of bail conditions for his release.

It said the prosecution may argue before the trial court for stringent conditions to be imposed for his release on bail.

The actress, who has worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some people who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of 17 February, 2017 and later escaped in a busy area. The entire act was filmed by those people to blackmail the actress.

The police has arrested several persons in connection with the case. Dileep was also arrested in the case and was later released on bail.

In its order passed on 3 June, the high court dismissed his bail plea and imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on him.