KOCHI: Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the station house officer, Vandiperiyar police station to protect the relatives of Arjun, who was acquitted in the rape and murder of a 6-year-old minor girl at Vandiperiyar town in Idukki.
"Taking into consideration the seriousness of the issue that a child aged 6 years was brutally murdered and the accused was exonerated of all the charges, the local people are very much agitated by the same, and therefore the situation is very much tense. Therefore there will be directions to the District Police Chief of Idukki to see that there is no threat to the life of the petitioners at the hands of respondents or their associates," said the court.
The court issued the order on the petition filed by Sundar, Shanmugam S R, Santi P S, Sinimol T, Babu R, Rani T, and N S Souryamma seeking police protection.
The petitioner submitted that after the acquittal of the accused, Mani of Vandiperiyar and two others along with their henchmen were not allowing the petitioners, who are the relatives of the accused, to live in their house and therefore they are now staying away from the house.
The counsel for the petitioner said that the marriage of the daughter of petitioners- Shanmugam and Santi was scheduled to be conducted next month and a few personal articles kept in the house needed to be taken but Mani and his henchmen were not allowing them to enter their house.
Therefore, there will be a direction to the police to see that the petitioners are allowed to come to their house and take their personal as well as other articles that are required for the marriage function.
The court directed the petitioner to appear before the Vandiperiyar Police Station and the station house officer to accompany the petitioners with a police party to their house to enable them to take their articles. The entire exercise shall be completed within one hour.