KOCHI: The Special CBI court has ordered the appointment of a woman judge to hear the actress assault case. Judge Honey Varghese was appointed as the judge to hear the case on Monday. The victim had approached the court seeking for a woman judge and special court for conducting the trial.

The case will be transferred to CBI Court from the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court. It had earlier rejected Dileep’s and Pulsar Suni’s petition that opposed the actress’ plea to take the case outside Ernakulam district. However, the court observed that the actress’ demand was based on the rule that allows the special court in cases of rape.

Dileep’s attorney argued that this is not a special case. The government pleader said that this case indeed special and accused including Dileep is trying to delay the trial as long as possible. The court also gave instruction to complete the trail as early as possible.

Events leading to the case took place on Feb 17, 2017, when the young actress was subjected to assault. It is alleged that Pulsar Suni stopped the actress’ vehicle and took vulgar footage of her. Pulsar Suni is the prime accused in the case which has 11 accused in total. Dileep is the eighth accused in the case.