IDUKKI: A day after the Kattappana Fast Track Court acquitted sole accused Arjun Sundar, 23, in the case related to the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl child in Vandiperiyar, the investigation team and the girl’s parents said they would approach the High Court against the lower court’s order.
Fast Track Court special judge Manju V had on Thursday acquitted Arjun due to a lack of scientific evidence to prove the crime. The court also cited the lapses that occurred during the investigation process.
The victim’s father told mediapersons that the judge pronounced the verdict without studying the case properly. “Even when the witnesses and evidence where against the accused, the court gave an unfair judgement thus denying justice to us,” he said.
He alleged that there were some outside interventions to obtain a verdict in favour of the accused. “A month before the verdict came, a relative of the accused person and the defence lawyer challenged and told us that the accused will be acquitted in the case,” he said.
He said that they will go for an appeal in the High Court seeking to stay the verdict.
Special prosecutor Sunil Maheswar Pillai said there were no lapses on the part of the prosecution in conducting the trial. “However, minor lapses had occurred in providing some scientific evidence and there were discrepancies in the statement of the witnesses which turned out to be a setback for the prosecution,” he said.
He said the prosecution would approach the High Court and file an appeal seeking to stay the verdict.
Meanwhile, Opposition leader V D Satheesan, who visited the girl’s house on Friday said that the investigation officer committed serious lapses as he couldn’t provide scientific evidence to prove the crime.
“If they go with the same evidence in the High Court, we are not sure whether the court will re-examine the verdict. The other option is to reopen the case and conduct a fresh investigation. We will ask for advice from senior advocates on the issue after speaking with the girl’s family. The Congress will give all legal support to the family,” he said.