The ongoing trial into the alleged lynching of Attappady native Madhu witnessed some interesting turn of events on Friday when the SC/ST Special Court at Mannarkkd chided a policeman for copying into a laptop the content of a flash drive given for examination to the court.
The court ordered that the video in the flash drive should be viewed only after bringing in an expert from the government IT Cell.
The court’s directive came while examining a plea against Sunil Kumar, the 29th witness who had turned hostile. Mr. Kumar’s counsel demanded that surveillance camera footages from Anavayur and Ponniyammal Gurukulam be examined. The footages had the presence of Mr. Kumar in them.
When the court permitted the examination of the footage, the flash drive containing the video was handed over to a policeman on duty for arranging for the court to view. However, instead of merely playing the content, the policeman copied it into the laptop, which was objected to by Mr. Kumar’s counsel.
The court reprimanded the policeman, confiscated the laptop, and ordered that the content be examined only in the presence of a government IT Cell expert.
Meanwhile, the plea for action against Mr. Kumar for his alleged perjury was posted for hearing on Monday.
The court had examined four witnesses the other day. They included K.K. Sivadas, the psychiatrist who treated Madhu at Government Mental Health Centre, Kuthiravattam, and Leema Francis, the doctor who confirmed Madhu’s death.
