KASARGOD: The examination of the witnesses in the Safiya murder case has been completed at the District Sessions Court. Though 63 persons were named as witnesses, only 37 were examined. Those who were examined include Safiya’s father Moidu, mother Aysha, brother of the first accused K C Hamsa, Muhammed, Hamsa’s sister-in-law Soja, social activist and college teacher P Geetha, forensic surgeon Dr Shirley Vasu, activist Ambalathara Kunhikrishnan, a doctor of a lab in Thiruvananthapuram which did the skull-photo superimposition, and Kozhikode Crime Branch DySP K V Santosh Kumar, who led the investigation.
The prosecution presented 64 documents and 12 pieces of evidence before the court. Safiya, 14, who was working as a domestic help at the house of civil contractor Hamsa in Goa, mysteriously went missing in 2006. Hamsa is a native of Masthikkundu at Muliyar in Kasargod district.Though her parents - residents of Madikeri in Karnataka - filed a missing complaintwith the Adoor police, there wasno progress in the investigation. This forced Moidu and Aysha to launch an indefinite sit-in at the ‘Oppumaram’ near the new bus stand in Kasargod town.
The protest gathered momentum and the activists formed the Safiya Action Committee. Under relentless protest, the missing person case was handed over to the Crime Branch, which found that Safiya was murdered and buried in Goa.