Walayar sisters’ death: CBI wants change of court, moves plea in Kerala HC
KOCHI : In the 2021 assembly elections, the mother of the Walayar rape victims contested against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Dharmadam, seeking justice, and secured 1,753 votes. Even as another election is approaching, the rape and murder case remains unresolved and the family’s struggle for justice is continuing.
Though further investigation by the CBI is progressing, it has approached the High Court to transfer the case from the Palakkad Pocso Court to the designated CBI Court in Ernakulam, which is meant for trial of cases probed by the CBI. However, the Walayar Neethi Samara Samithi is against the move of the CBI.
V M Marsen, a member of the Samithi, said that the atrocities against the minor child should be tried in the Pocso Court.
“The case related to the Walayar girls’ death that occurred in 2017 has seen umpteen developments over the years. This is the second team of CBI that is conducting further investigation. Why didn’t the earlier team seek to transfer the case to the CBI Court in Ernakulam? We will file an objection before the High Court,” Marsen told TNIE.
The High Court will consider the case on April 9.
In the petition, CBI stated that originally the crime was registered by Walayar police, They have the jurisdiction to register the crime before the Special Court for Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act, Palakkad. Subsequently, the investigation of the case was entrusted to the CBI and accordingly, CBI re-registered the case. But CBI can file the final report only before the designated CBI court. The designated court is based in Ernakulam. Hence, the case pending before the Special Court for Pocso Act, Palakkad, should be transferred to the CBI Court, Ernakulam.
The offences in the case are under the IPC, Pocso Act and SC/ST(POA) Act. All these three Acts are separate and independent.
The CBI pointed out that the state government has already notified that the crimes registered by the CBI can be tried only by the Special Judge’s Court, CBI, Ernakulam, if the crime is related to the districts from Kasaragd to Alappuzha. In respect of the other district, the special court in Thiruvananthapuram alone can conduct the trial. The CBI can file the final report only in the Special Court for CBI in Ernakulam, stated the petition.
It was seven years ago that the two sisters aged 13 and nine were found hanging from a raft of their house on different dates. When the 13-year-old girl was found hanging on January 13, 2017, her nine-year-old sister was found dead in the same manner on March 4, 2017.