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The actress at the center of the high-profile 2017 Kerala assault case, Bhavana Menon, has broken her silence for the first time following the acquittal of actor Dileep by the Ernakulam Sessions Court this week.
In a lengthy and emotionally charged post on Instagram, Bhavana articulated the profound disillusionment she feels toward the legal system, stating that after years of pain, tears, and mental anguish, she has arrived at the “bitter truth that not every citizen in this country receives justice according to the law.”
The controversy centers on the December 8 verdict, in which the Kochi court acquitted prominent Malayalam actor Dileep, whom the victim accused of being the mastermind behind the attack due to a personal vendetta. Three other co-accused were also cleared. However, in a conflicting ruling delivered on December 12, the court convicted six other individuals for the actual crime—the sexual assault and kidnapping of the actress in a moving car—sentencing them to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment each.
While Bhavana expressed gratitude for the conviction of the six attackers—including the prime accused, Sunil alias Pulsar Suni—she stated that the partial outcome was not surprising.
“I had already anticipated that the alleged mastermind, actor Dileep, might be acquitted,” she wrote. “This decision may be shocking for many people, but it was not for me. Since 2020, I began to feel that something was fundamentally wrong with how the case was proceeding.”
### Refuting Misinformation and Detailing Procedural Failures
A major point of contention raised by Bhavana was the persistent spread of misinformation, particularly the false narrative suggesting that the convicted prime accused was her personal driver.
“Those who still claim that one of the accused was my personal driver are lying,” she asserted. “He was neither my driver, nor my employee, nor someone I knew personally. He was a regular individual assigned to me as a driver for a film production in 2016. I had only met the man once or twice before the attack.”
Bhavana detailed six core reasons for her complete loss of faith in the judicial process throughout the nearly eight-year ordeal:
1. **Violation of Rights:** She claimed her fundamental rights were not protected during the trial.
2. **Memory Card Tampering:** The memory card containing the video evidence of the assault was illegally accessed and opened three times while under judicial custody.
3. **Prosecutor Resignations:** Two government prosecutors resigned during the hearings, both reportedly informing her privately that they felt proceedings were biased and advised her against hoping for justice from that specific court.
4. **Ignored Investigations:** Her repeated pleas for an investigation into the tampering of the memory card were continuously overlooked.
5. **Rejection of Transfer Pleas:** When she requested a change of the presiding judge, the accused filed an application to retain the same judge, which was granted.
6. **Unanswered Appeals:** Her appeals to the President and Prime Minister of India, requesting intervention regarding her concerns, received no response. Similarly, her requests for an open court hearing accessible to the media and the public were rejected.
### The Aftermath and Government Response
The sentencing of the six assailants marked a partial conclusion to the criminal case, but Dileep’s acquittal has rendered the overall verdict highly controversial, igniting a fierce public debate in Kerala regarding institutional accountability, the misuse of power, and privilege within the film industry.
The acquitted actor, Dileep, subsequently told the media that the entire case against him was a conspiracy that allegedly began with the statement of his former wife, Manju Warrier, who had openly supported the victim.
In response to the acquittal, the Kerala government has officially announced that it will appeal the decision to a higher court, signaling that the legal battle over the 2017 assault case is far from over.
