PALAKKAD: One of the accused, acquitted in the Walayar Dalit sisters' death case, was attacked and thrashed by the locals at Attappalam on Saturday.
Kutty Madhu, one of the accused acquited in the case, has been admitted to the district hospital in Palakkad. It was the police who arrived at the spot who took him to the hospital.
The POCSO court in Palakkad had acquitted all the four accused including Kutty Madhu in the Dalit sisters' death case. While the 13-year-old elder sister was found hanging on January 13, 2017, her nine-year-old sibling was found dead in a similar fashion 52 days after on March 4, 2017. Both the girls had died reportedly after they were sexually exploited.
Meanwhile, the Walayar police have reportedly taken into custody four youths for attacking Kutty Madhu and were being subjected to questioning.
Madhu told the police that there was an altercation with the locals and they started beating him up.
Madhu was later shifted from the observation home where he was brought from Walayar to the ICU at the hospital. Even the media persons were prohibited from approaching Kutty Madhu at the hospital.
Describing the incident, Krishnaprasad, who was pillion riding on the brand new Pulsar motorbike of Kutty Madhu, told Express that “it was around 11.30 a.m. when we were returning from a clinic in Palakkad where Madhu had gone for treatment. When the bike slowed down near a speed breaker at Attappalam, two youths there told us to stop. Subsequently, about 15 youths ran to us from the nearby bakery and began to question us on the Walayar incident”.
Initially, the gang took Madhu's helmet and hit him with it. "They told me to move away. They damaged the bike. One of them, while hitting Madhu with the helmet, was calling out to burn the bike. However, I quickly took away the bike and called Walayar police station. The cops arrived in just 10 minutes. But by that time, Madhu was lying on the road after being beaten up very badly," Krishnaprasad said.
Police said that Madhu was immediately taken in an ambulance to the district hospital in Palakkad.
Meanwhile, Madhu's mother Kanakamani (who is also a maternal aunt of two deceased Dalit girls found hanging in Walayar) was seen outside the ICU of the hospital. She said her son had multiple stitches on his body. The hands and limbs are also swollen, she added.
Kanakamani, who came rushing from a brewery unit in Kanjikode where she was working, said that the attack on Madhu was committed by BJP sympathizers and her son has nothing to do with Walayar sexual abuse and death incident. "How can my son do such acts to a cousin sister," she asked.
On September 30, the special POCSO court, Palakkad, acquitted one of the accused Pradeep Kumar. Other accused -- M Madhu, V Madhu and Shibu -- were also acquitted by a special court on October 25.