Kerala HC Orders Actor Dileep To Hand Over Mobile Phones to Registrar General

Dileep had argued that handing over phones to the police would violate his right against self-incrimination.

Actor Dileep was arrested by the Kerala police in the female actor sexual assault case in July 2017.

(File Photo: Twitter)

In an interim order, the Kerala High Court on Saturday, 29 January, ordered actor Dileep and two of his relatives to hand over their mobile phones to the court for examination in connection with the criminal conspiracy case against them.

The Malayalam actor and his relatives have till 10:15 am on Monday, 31 January to produce their phones before the registrar general of the high court, with the court set to supervise the examination of the devices.

The order was passed after the crime branch of the Kerala Police filed an application with the Kerala High Court on Friday saying Dileep was not handing over his devices, which are needed for their investigation of the allegations that he had conspired to kill the police officials investigating him in a 2017 abduction and sexual assault case.

Dileep sought to argue that handing over his phones would be a violation of his fundamental right against self-incrimination, and that he had sent the phones for independent forensic examination because he did not trust the police.

The court did not accept his argument, saying that the police have the power to seize any property from an accused which is pertinent to an investigation under the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The judge also reportedly pointed to Section 79A of the Information Technology Act, which says the central government has the power to notify which laboratories can be considered examiners of electronic evidence, hence the phones could not be sent to an examiner of Dileep's choice.

However, in light of the fact that the phones could also have conversations between him and his lawyers and with his former wife, The New Indian Express reported the court as saying:

"We will have to find a balance. How do we reasonably segregate between information relevant to the investigation and privileged communication like with a lawyer?"

The high court is currently hearing Dileep's plea for anticipatory bail after the crime branch opened a new case against him regarding the alleged conspiracy to harm the police officers, following the release of audio tapes by director R Balachandrakumar om December 2021.

The actor and his relatives have been granted interim protection from arrest while the high court hears their pleas, currently set to last till 2 February.

(With inputs from The New Indian Express.)