KOCHI: Over 100 people, including women and children, on Thursday tonsured their heads here seeking action against police personnel who had committed lapses in the probe into the death of two minor Dalit sisters after alleged sexual assault in Walayar four years ago.
The mass tonsure protest in front of the District Collectorate was held under the aegis of Barathiya Pattika Jana Samajam (BPJS), expressing solidarity with the parents of the girls, who were found hanging in their hut in northern Palakkad district in 2017.
After the Kerala High Court recently ordered a re-trial in the case observing that there were serious lapses in the investigation and there has been miscarriage of justice, the state government last month handed over it to CBI.
BPJS Ernakulam district secretary Rajitha Animon was the first one to tonsure her head, following which over 100 people including several other women and children got their heads shaved demanding justice for the girls.
The outfit later announced it would continue with similar agitations until the police personnelwere removed from service and authorities took necessary action against them.
The mother of the deceased girls had recently tonsured her headto protest the alleged government inaction against the police.
She had shaved her head on February27 after staging a month-long satyagraha in her home district, Palakkad.
A Division Bench of Justices A Hariprasad and M R Anitha of the high court had set aside a October 2019 order of POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Court acquitting the five accused in the case for want of evidence.
The oldest of the siblings, aged 13, was found hanging in their hut in Walayar in Palakkad district on January 13, 2017, and the younger one (9) on March 4 the same year.
Both were allegedly sexually assaulted.
The mother of the girls had earlier sought a CBI probe.
Public outcry and protests had erupted in the state after the acquittal of the accused, seeking justice for the family of the girls.
The state government had, on November 18, 2019, removed the Public Prosecutor who handled the case and later filed the appeal in the high court.