Overview
- A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court heard arguments and on Thursday reserved its order on Sunil N.S. (Pulsar Suni)’s plea to suspend the 20-year sentence he received in the 2017 actor assault case.
- Suni’s lawyers told the court he has already spent about 8.5 years in custody and argued that the trial court’s acquittal of actor Dileep weakens the prosecution’s claimed motive for the attack.
- The Kerala government, the special public prosecutor and the survivor’s counsel opposed suspension, citing the crime’s gravity, the risk that recorded visuals could be misused and allegations that the mobile containing evidence remains unrecovered.
- All appeals from the December trial judgment, including the convicts’ challenges and the State’s appeal seeking enhancement and to overturn acquittals, are admitted before the High Court and the bench said it will decide Suni’s application first and hear other convicts later.
- Under law, suspension of sentence after conviction requires a stricter showing than pre-conviction bail because the presumption of innocence no longer applies, so the court’s order will shape whether the appeals proceed with the convicts at liberty or in custody and could affect the pace of investigations and the survivor’s access to justice.