PALAKKAD: Nearly a year on since the Special Pocso Court here had acquitted all accused in the case in which two minor Dalit sisters were found hanging on different occasions in Walayar after they were sexually assaulted , the evidence collection by police as part of the reinvestigation ordered in the case has not reached anywhere. It was on October 25 last year that the Special Pocso Court pronounced the verdict which resulted in the acquital of three accused — V Madhu, M Madhu and Shibu — owing to lack of hard evidence.
Barely a week before, Pradeep Kumar, a fellow accused who was a neighbour of the deceased siblings, was also let off. After the acquittals ignited a firestorm of criticism over lapses on the part of the prosecution and police investigation, the chief minister had ordered a reinvestigation into the case. He had also promised that the proceedings will be speeded up. However, the parents of the girls have now come out stating that none of the promises made has been kept.
The mother of the two girls had filed a petition before the High Court seeking to get the ‘not guilty’ verdict overturned. Two civil police officers from the women’s cell had come to collect evidence from her at the family’s house in Walayar last Monday.According to the woman, the woman officers didn’t take down her statements. Instead they put down in writing what they deemed fit. For instance, when she stated that her elder daughter had been ‘killed’, the officers recorded it as ‘died’.
Similarly, the mother said though she had pointed out to the officers that the body of her younger daughter was found with the legs touching the ground, it was not recorded. This, according to her, clearly showed that efforts are on to derail the probe.It was on January 12, 2017, that the 13-year-old girl was found hanging and almost two months later the body of the younger one was also found hanging from the same position at their house in Walayar n March 4, 2017. The post-mortem revealed that both the girls had been sexually assaulted .
What caused suspicion was that the body of the elder girl was found hanging from a height. But there was no stool to get to that height . The younger girl also told the police that she saw two persons with their faces covered going out of their house when the elder girl was found hanging .But the police did not record her statement.Instead the death of the elder sister was investigated and closed as a case of suicide. The death of the second girl was also sought to be closed as a case of suicide but public protests forced the police to constitute a team under DySP Sojan to investigate the case.Subsequently, five persons, included a minor, were arrested and named as accused. The trial of the minor is proceeding in Juvenile court. The High Court is scheduled to hear the case on November 3.
HC-supervised probe sought
Palakkad: The parents of the two Dalit minor girls who were found hanging in their houses have said they did not have faith in the present inquiry by the police and therefore demanded a High Court-monitored probe. Addressing mediapersons here on Friday, the parents said that they would observe a satyagraha from 9am to 5pm in front of their house from October 25 to 31. They demanded that the police officials who torpedoed the case and the prosecutor who failed to present the case effectively in court should be booked under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The police officers — then DySP M J Sojan and then sub inspector of the Walayar police station P C Chacko who were responsible for the shoddy probe — have now been promoted as Superintendent of Police and Circle Inspector respectively by the LDF Government. Political leaders and social activists will make their presence felt virtually at the protest which will be organised before the house in Attappalam, Walayar.Apart from mediapersons, social activists C R Neelakantan, Vilayodi Venugopal, Armughan Pathichira and Anitha Shinu among others addressed the media.