The police in Kerala have filed a 300-page charge sheet in the sexual assault and murder of a six-year-old girl in Idukki's Vandiperiyar, which happened this June 2021. The chargesheet was filed at the Thodupuzha POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court against the girl's neighbour and accused, 22-year-old Arjun, reports Mathrubhumi. Arjun has been charged with rape, murder and under the POCSO section.
The chargesheet was filed within 78 days of the crime. If it had exceeded 90 days, the accused would have been eligible to get bail. The police have taken the statement of 150 people and 36 of them are recorded as witnesses in the case.
The child was sexually assaulted and murdered allegedly by Arjun on June 30. Arjun, who was a worker of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) — the youth wing of the CPI(M) — and a popular figure in the neighbourhood of Vandiperiyar, had been sexually abusing the child for three years, the police had said at the time.
On the day of her murder, the child was alone at her home when her parents went to work. It was her elder brother who found her dead when he reached home at 3 in the afternoon. Arjun had reportedly put on a show of mourning for the girl and helping the relatives to conduct her last rites.
The whole village of Churakulam — where the crime occurred — had turned against the accused after his alleged crime came to light. In July, when he was taken to the village for the inquest, the villagers came out angrily and one man even slapped him. The police had to form a protective layer around him.