Kerala High Court
Divya Prabha Preman vs Protector General Of Emigrants on 22 September, 2025
Author: P.V.Kunhikrishnan
Bench: P.V.Kunhikrishnan
2025:KER:69970
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE P.V.KUNHIKRISHNAN
FRIDAY, THE 19TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER 2025 / 28TH BHADRA, 1947
WP(CRL.) NO. 1338 OF 2024
PETITIONER/S:
RAJAN C.G.@RAJAN CHITTILAPPILLY@RAFI
UT NO. 02, HIGH SECURITY PRISON, VIYYUR, THRISSUR
BY ADV RAJAN C.G.@RAJAN
CHITTILAPPILLY@RAFI(PARTY-IN-PERSON)
RESPONDENT/S:
1 STATE OF KERALA
REPRESENTED BY SECRETARY TO HOME DEPARTMENT,
GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM 695001
2 THE SUPERINTENDENT
HIGH SECURITY PRISON, VIYYUR, THRISSUR 680010
3 THE JOINT SUPERINTENDENT
HIGH SECURITY PRISON, VIYYUR, THRISSUR 680010
4 ADDL.R4.THE DIRECTOR
CYBER FORENSIC SECTION, C-DAC ,
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - 695033;ADDL.R4. SUO MOTU
IMPLEADED VIDE ORDER DATED 23/06/2025;
BY ADV O.M.SHALINA, DEPUTY SOLICITOR GENERAL OF
INDIA
THIS WRIT PETITION (CRIMINAL) HAVING COME UP FOR
ADMISSION ON 19.09.2025, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED
THE FOLLOWING:
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WP(CRL.) NO.1338 OF 2024
2
P.V.KUNHIKRISHNAN, J
--------------------------------
W.P. (Crl.) No.1338 of 2024
-------------------------------
Dated this the 19th day of September, 2025
JUDGMENT
This writ petition (crl) is filed challenging the order dated
04.12.2023 in Crl. M.P. No.297/2023, Crl. M.P. No.320/2023 and
Crl. M.P. No.321/2023 in SC No.2/2021/NIA on the Special Court for
Trial of NIA Cases, Ernakulam. The petitioner, who is accused No.3
in the above case, filed these petitions before the Special Judge.
2. The petitioner has been in judicial custody at High
Security Prison, Viyyur, Thrissur. According to the petitioner, on
05.06.2023 at 09:30 am, when the petitioner was having his meal,
the prison officials entered the cell room and hurled the books,
magazines and clothes. It is also the case of the petitioner that the
Joint Superintendent of the jail, threw the food with his legs. After
that, the petitioner filed a complaint explaining the incidents,
through the prison officer on the same day, and no action was
taken by the Superintendent. Therefore, the petitioner seeks to
take appropriate legal action against the jail authorities, and
hence, these petitions were filed before the Special Judge.
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3. When these applications came up for consideration
before the Special Judge, the Superintendent of the jail forwarded
the CCTV visuals of GF-8 Cell on the particular day. It is also
reported that the CCTV technician copied the visuals to the pen
drive and that no editing or additions were made from the office.
In such circumstances, the learned Special Judge observed that
the matter is to be considered by the Chairperson of the District
Jail Committee, Thrissur, for further action. Accordingly, those
applications were disposed of. Aggrieved by the same, this writ
petition (Crl) is filed.
4. When this writ petition (crl) came up for consideration
originally on 09.12.2024, this Court directed the Public Prosecutor
to ascertain the action taken, if any, by the chairperson of the
District Jail Committee, pursuant to the directions of the trial court
in the impugned order.
5. Thereafter, when the matter came up for consideration
on 08.01.2025, and this Court passed the following order:
" Heard the petitioner who appeared through video
conferencing in person. I have also interacted with
the Jail Superintendent. The petitioner submitted
that, if the CCTV footage on the relevant day in the
hard disk is examined, his allegation against the
prison officials could be established. The Jail
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Superintendent stated that the hard disk on the
relevant date is available. Hence, the Jail
Superintendent is directed to produce the hard disk
showing the CCTV footage of the Cell No.8 in the
ground floor for the date 5.6.2023 before the Special
Court for the Trial of NIA cases, Ernakulam within
fifteen days. On receipt of the said hard disk, the
Special Court for trial of NIA cases, Ernakulam is
directed to send them for forensic examination. The
report received from the Forensic Department shall
be forwarded to this Court.
Post on 24.1.2025 to report the compliance of the
production of hard disk of the CCTV footage before
the Special Court for trial of NIA cases, Ernakulam.
This order shall be communicated to the Jail
Superintendent as well as to the petitioner."
6. Again the matter came up for consideration on
29.01.2025, this Court passed the following order:
The above application has been filed to modify the
interim order of this Court dated 08.01.2025.
2. I have heard the respondent/petitioner, who
appeared in person through video conference, the
learned Public Prosecutor and also perused
Exts.R2(a) & (b) reports.
3. In Exts.R2(a) & (b) reports it is stated that since
the infrastructure uses a RAID storage, data is stored
as a logical volume (spanning multiple hard disks)
which depends upon the configuration of the RAID,
the data related to a particular video cannot be
obtained from a specific hard disk. It is further
reported that storage facility available for the CCTV
footage is 45 days and hence the hard disks might
have been overwritten several times since June 2023
till date. It is also mentioned that the recovery of data
in an overwritten condition is almost impossible.
However, in both reports it is stated that the copy of
the data available on the USB submitted by PWD,
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WP(CRL.) NO.1338 OF 2024
Electronic Division, Thrissur can be utilized as source
for conducting forensic examination. If such an
examination is made, it can be found out whether a
particular portion of the CCTV footage has been
erased or deleted.
Hence, the order dated 08.01.2025 is modified and
the Jail Superintendent is directed to produce the
items mentioned in Ext.R2(a) before the Special
Court for trial of NIA cases, Ernakulam within 15 days.
On receipt of the same, the Special Court for trial of
NIA cases, Ernakulam is directed to send them for
forensic analysis. The report received from the
Forensic Expert shall be forwarded to this Court. The
Forensic Expert shall ascertain and report whether
any tampering or erasure has taken place in the
original device before the data was copied to the pen
drive.
Post on 03.03.2025. "
7. Now, when the matter came up for consideration on
03.03.2025, the Public Prosecutor submitted that the item
mentioned in Ext.R2(a) was produced before the Special Court.
Therefore, this Court directed the Special Court to get instructions
about the further action to be taken in this regard. The Special
Court submitted a report in which it is stated that the articles were
sent for expert opinion. Thereafter, the matter came for
consideration before this Court on 25.07.2025, and this Court
passed the following order:
" The counsel appearing for the C-DAC submitted that
no material is received by the C-DAC, Trivandrum for
examination. The Special Court (SPE/CBI)-I,
Ernakulam submitted a report before this Court,
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WP(CRL.) NO.1338 OF 2024
stating that the CCTV footage was forwarded to the
State Forensic Science Laboratory,
Thiruvananthapuram and the said Laboratory
acknowledged the receipt and registered it as file
No.B2/2254/FSL/2025 dated 21.02.2025. If that be
the case, it is clear that the Special Judge forwarded
the CCTV footages to the FSL, Trivandrum. At this
stage, the Public Prosecutor seeks further time to get
instruction.
Post finally to 06.08.2025.
The Registry will also verify whether any petition is
received from the High Security Prison, Viyyur in the
name of the petitioner for emergency leave. If any
such application is filed, the same also will be posted
along with this petition on 06.08.2025. Show the
name of the DSGI in the cause title."
8. Now, the expert opinion is received before the Special
Court, and the same is sent to this Court by the Special Court. I am
of the considered opinion that the impugned order is to be set
aside and the Special Judge has to reconsider the matter in the
light of the expert opinion. I have not opened the report of the
expert opinion received. The Registry will forward the same to the
Jurisdictional Court immediately. The Special Judge will give a copy
of the same to the petitioner and thereafter, hear the petitioner
and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law.
Therefore, this writ petition (crl) is disposed of with the
following directions:
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1. The order dated 04.12.2023 is set aside. The
expert opinion received by this Court will be
forwarded to the Special Court for Trial of NIA Cases,
Ernakulam, forthwith.
2. The Special Court will give a copy of the report to
the petitioner and thereafter decide the matter.
3. The Special Court will reconsider the matter in the
light of the report after giving an opportunity of
hearing the petitioner as expeditiously as possible.
4. The Registry will forward a copy of this judgment
to the petitioner through the Superintendent of High
Security Prison, Viyyur, and the Superintendent will
hand over a copy of this judgment to the petitioner
directly.
Sd/-
P.V.KUNHIKRISHNAN
JUDGE
SSG
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WP(CRL.) NO.1338 OF 2024
APPENDIX OF WP(CRL.) 1338/2024
RESPONDENT EXHIBITS
Exhibit R2(a) A TRUE COPY OF THE LETTER SENT BY THE
ASSISTANT ENGINEER, PWD ELECTRONIC
DIVISION, DATED 15.01.2025.
Exhibit R2(b) A TRUE COPY OF THE LETTER SEND BY THE
SCIENTIST G/SECTION HEAD, CYBER
FORENSICS SECTION OF C-DAC
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM DATED 20.01.2025.
