Kochi , 10 June (H.S.):The Kerala High Court on Wednesday witnessed a second judicial recusal in the case concerning the alleged unauthorised access of the memory card containing visuals related to the 2017 actress assault case, after Justice Kauser Edappagath withdrew from hearing a petition filed by the survivor seeking a fresh investigation.

The petition, which calls for a reinvestigation into the alleged tampering of the memory card while it was in court custody, will now be placed before another Bench of the High Court.

The survivor had approached the High Court seeking a detailed probe into claims that the memory card, a crucial piece of evidence in the sensational case, was accessed illegally while under the custody of the trial court. She has requested that the investigation be conducted under the supervision of the High Court by a Special Investigation Team comprising cyber forensic experts.

Justice Kauser Edappagath’s recusal comes a day after Justice Jobin Sebastian also stepped aside from hearing the matter. No reasons were publicly disclosed for the recusals.

The issue centres on findings from a forensic examination which reportedly revealed that the hash value of the memory card had changed while it remained in judicial custody, raising concerns over the integrity of the electronic evidence. The change in the hash value was detected during a forensic analysis carried out when Justice Kauser Edappagath was serving as the Principal Sessions Judge.

The actress has argued that the alleged unauthorised examination of the memory card warrants a fresh and independent investigation to determine whether the evidence was compromised and, if so, who was responsible.

The High Court is expected to assign the matter to another Bench for further consideration in the coming days.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman