After an 18-long year wait of agony and suffering, when the court was pronouncing the final verdict, the family of the Suryanelli victim, was at St Antony’s Church, Nagampadam, near here, seeking justice from the Almighty.
After a painful and harrowing wait, the family finally received justice when a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court upheld the quantum of punishment awarded to the convicts in the controversial Suryanelli gangrape case by the special court.
Welcoming the judgment with a heave of relief, father of the victim recalled everyone, who lent their support during tough times.
“We welcome this great judgment. We expect nothing other than a change in the contemptuous and disdainful attitude of society as we have suffered a lot in this long and lonely wait since the incident,” the victim’s father told ‘Express.’ Though, the delayed justice is considered to be denial of justice he says he and his family do not harbour any discontent or grudge.
He, however, recalled the hurting words of a former HC judge, who termed the incident as case of child prostitution, and said it was as excruciating as the 18- year-long persecution.
“The judgment is a fitting reply for that judge. At the same time, the only request is that the authorities concerned should ensure the detention of the convicts, which was proved not successful with the escape of Dharmarajan, earlier,” he added.
The prosecution case, which is commonly known as Suryanelli case, was that a 16-year-old schoolgirl from a plantation village called, Suryanelli in Idukki district was enticed, abducted and sexually exploited by a bus conductor on January 16, 1996.