The Kerala High Court on Thursday granted permission to the victim girl in the Suryanelli case to engage an advocate of her choice to assist the prosecution in the appeals which are being considered by the HC.
A Division Bench comprising Justice KT Sankaran and Justice ML Joseph Francis passed the order on a petition by the victim girl seeking to appoint Advocate Suresh Babu Thomas to assist the prosecution for conducting the case.
The victim girl submitted that when the High Court had disposed of the appeals earlier and acquitted 35 accused on January 20, 2005, a lot of aspersions were cast on her character and she was referred to as deviant person. It was said that she consented to all the rapes on her and did not try to escape from the accused persons, the petition said.
“Even at this point the main argument of the accused persons is on my character and conduct. So it would be just and proper that I may also be given an opportunity to counter the attacks and aspersions,” she submitted.
According to her, Suresh Babu Thomas was well-versed with the intricacies of the case and had participated in the trial proceedings in the special court. The evidence in the case runs to thousands of pages and every part of it was very important. “Presently DGP is defending the appeal on behalf of the state. If the petition is allowed, I would also be able to assist the prosecution and the Court,” she said.
The counsels for the accused persons and the Director General of Prosecutions did not oppose the plea of the victim girl.
The HC had disposed of a petition filed by victim seeking to appoint two Special Public Prosecutors to conduct the appeals filed by the accused in the case before the HC. The petitioner had told the High Court that she would pursue the matter before the appropriate bench for appointment of private lawyers of her choice to assist the Director General of Prosecution in the conduct of the appeals.
