Kerala court rejects woman’s plea for CBI probe into bobbitisation case
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Additional District and Sessions Judge here on Thursday rejected a plea seeking a CBI probe into the sensational bobbitisation case.
Judge T K Minimol, also holding charge of the special court for POCSO cases, dismissed the woman’s plea citing that it wasn’t maintainable.
The judge approved the prosecution argument that it was the prerogative of the government to hand over the case to the CBI and not the court.
During the hearing, the judge criticised the woman and her lawyer for filing such a petition. The judge pointed out that it was unlawful for the complainant to engage another lawyer when there was a prosecutor to represent her. The complainant woman was present in the court when the plea was rejected.
According to the judge, Section 301(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, whereby such a complainant can engage a private lawyer, can be explored only with the prior permission of the court. Also, the lawyer should work as per the direction of the prosecutor. But, in this case, the complainant engaged a private lawyer and filed a petition against prosecution.
In her petition, the woman alleged that she never raised rape allegations against Swami Gangesananda. It was fabricated by the police. The attack was carried out by someone else and police are not investigating this angle, she alleged.
The government had earlier handed over probe to Crime Branch Crime Investigation Department and the new agency would start investigation soon.