The death of two girls, an investigation, a trial and then acquittal of the accused, a re-investigation and now a third investigation - the Walayar girls death case from 2017 has gone through many developments over the years. In the latest, a Protection of Child from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Court in Kerala’s Palakkad rejected a chargesheet filed by the CBI and ordered a reinvestigation into the death of two girls in Walayar in Palakkad district of Kerala. The chargesheet filed by CBI had claimed that both the girls died by suicide. The girls, aged 13 and 9, were found dead in a shed where the family was living between January and March of 2017.
The eldest girl died on January 13, 2017, and her younger sister died on March 4, 2017. The mother of the girls has welcomed the verdict setting aside the chargesheet but has sought that the reinvestigation be conducted by another team of CBI officers. “I wish a new team would conduct the reinvestigation because we are certain this is a clear case of murder. We all hope the real truth comes out," the mother said.
The death of the two girls had caused a massive uproar in the state in 2017 after allegations surfaced that the children were sexually abused. A case had been filed for abetment to suicide and rape, but the Palakkad Special Court had acquitted all four accused in the case — V Madhu, M Madhu, Pradeep Kumar, and a juvenile boy — in October 2019.
At the time, their acquittal had also sparked a lot of protests, with various political parties and non-political outfits taking out marches in the state over the acquittal of the three men by a POSCO court at Palakkad. The third accused in the case, was discovered dead at his Alappuzha home in November of last year. The police believe he died by suicide. The case was then handed over to the CBI and the CBI began its probe in early 2021.
The CBI chargesheet said that the three main accused - who were all close relatives of the family- had sexually abused and assaulted the girls for years, leading to their suicides. The mother however opposed this chargesheet and told the court that the CBI did not look into a murder angle. The mother believes that the girls were murdered by the accused.
The incident dates back to January 13, 2017, when the 13-year-old elder girl was found dead in a shed next to her home in Walayar in Palakkad district. Her nine-year-old sister was found dead in the same manner on March 4 that year. A post-mortem report revealed that the sisters were sexually assaulted.