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CBI takes over probe in Walayar minors’ sexual assault, death case
CBI’s move came after the Kerala high court on March 19, ordered the central agency to take over the probe.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered two cases in the sexual assault and death of two minor Dalit girls in Walayar, Kerala, in 2017, officials familiar with the matter said, opening a new chapter in a case that horrified the state and which has, in recent months, hit the national headlines with the girls’ mother taking on sitting chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in his stronghold in the coming assembly elections as a sign of protest.
CBI’s move came after the Kerala high court on March 19, ordered the central agency to take over the probe.
The eldest of the siblings, aged 13, was found dead inside the family’s hut in Walayar in Palakkad district on January 13, 2017 ; her nine-year-old sister died on March 4 in the same manner. The parents alleged that the girls were murdered.
Post-mortem examinations of the two girls revealed that they were subjected to sexual assault before their deaths.
The mother of the two girls welcomed the CBI action. “Hope the agency will bring all culprits and those weakened the case to light,” she said
The crime branch of the state police conducted an investigation and arrested four accused – Valya Madhu and Kutti Madhu, relatives of the mother of the minor girls, Shibu, a former co-worker of the parents, and Pradeep Kumar. A fifth accused in the case died by suicide last year.
All the accused were acquitted by the special Pocso court in October 2019 on the grounds that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against them.
Following protests over the acquittal, the state government on November 18, 2019 removed the public prosecutor in the case.
The Kerala high court, while ordering retrial in January this year, observed that there was “miscarriage of justice”.
A division bench, comprising Justices A Hariprasad and M R Anitha, allowed appeals filed by the state government and the mother of the minor girls. The bench also set aside the Pocso court order in the case.
Observing that there were serious lapses in the investigation, the HC directed the accused to appear before the trial court on January 20. “We are fully convinced that the perfunctory initial investigation and cursory, desultory and unskilled prosecution coupled with the lack of involvement by the trial judge resulted in miscarriage of justice and the consequential unmerited acquittal,” the bench said.
The judges observed that the trial had been “lowered to the level of mock trials”. They also allowed the prosecution to seek permission from the trial court for further probe into the matter.
Reacting to the development Kerala law minister AK Balan said, “We have tried our best to help the mother. But some vested interests are using her to embarrass the government.”
