In-camera hearing held into Vithura sex case

Kottayam: The comedy king of Malayalam films, Jagathy Sreekumar yesterday appeared at an in-camera trial in the Vithura sex scandal case, in which he is one of the accused.

The trial began here at the special court set up for the case. The sex scandal hit the headlines in 1995-96 when a 16-year-old girl from Vithura, near Thiruvananthapuram, was sexually abused by several people. Currently, all the accused, including Jagathy, are out on bail.

Case history

The case involving Jagathy is one of the three charge-sheeted cases. There are five accused in this case. Of the five, the first accused, Ajitha Beegum, committed suicide. Two people involved in the case are yet to be arrested.

Shobha, another accused in the case who was out on bail, did not appear in the court when the proceedings began. Judge P.K. Baburajan observed that if she failed to appear in court in 30 minutes, her bail would be cancelled and arrest orders issued. Soon after, Shobha appeared and the trial began.

The victim was also present. The Supreme Court, after Jagathy had approached it for the speedy disposal of the case, directed the court to finish trial before April end. A large number of Jagathy's fans, including schoolchildren, vied to catch a glimpse of the actor.