KOCHI: In a major development in the case related to the rape and death of two girl children in Walayar, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has approached the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Board seeking to try the juvenile accused--termed a ‘child in conflict with law’ (CCL)--as an adult and to transfer the case to Pocso special court for trial.
On January 13, 2017, the elder victim, a 12-year-old, was found hanging from a raft in their one-room house in Attappallam, near Walayar. Exactly 49 days later, her younger sibling, aged nine, was found hanging from the same raft. Arun Prasad alias Valiya Appu, who was 16 years old at the time, was accused in both cases.
The trial proceedings against him were pending before the JJ Board when the other adult accused were acquitted by the sessions court. Later, the Kerala High Court ordered a further investigation by the CBI based on the petition filed by the mother. When the further investigation was progressing, the board proceedings were kept in abeyance.
In the supplementary charge sheet filed recently, the CBI said that Arun is involved in the case. The central agency arraigned the parents of the deceased as accused and filed separate charge sheets in the CBI court.
Last Saturday, Walayar police arrested Arun for allegedly attempting to assault a 60-year-old woman living alone in her house in Palakkad. This gave the CBI the opportunity to ask the JJ Board to carry out a ‘preliminary assessment’ of his mental and physical capacity to commit the offence.