Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday told the Assembly that the Special Public Prosecutor in the Walayar sisters’ rape and death case has been removed. This comes after the public prosecutor could not present incriminating evidence against the accused, which, coupled with the Kerala police’s lapses in the probe, led to the acquittal of four men named in the case in October.
Pinarayi Vijayan also promised the Assembly that strict measures will be taken against those responsible for lapses in the investigation and trial of the 2017 rape and death case of the two minors in Walayar.
The CM added that he had signed the order removing the Special Public Prosecutor who had dealt with the case. He promised to appeal to a higher court against the acquittal of the four accused persons and to appoint expert lawyers as prosecutors in the case.
Adding that the government will look into the lapses by the police, CM Pinarayi said, “If found that officers showed lapses in discharging their duties properly with regard to the investigation of the case, strict action would be taken against them.”
In October, state government reportedly decided to file an appeal to replace the public prosecutor. After visiting the parents of the minors, L Murugan, vice-chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), had said that the public prosecutor did not coordinate with the mother.
Meanwhile, the parents of the minor girls in Walayar have appealed for a CBI investigation into the death of their daughters. However, the final order on the kind of investigation to pursue in the case has to come from the court. The government has assured that the parents of the children have no doubts or misconceptions regarding this and that the government has promised timely action.
The CM also told the Assembly that at no point will the CPI(M) intervene as a party or political organisation in the case. Two of the men named in the case, Valiya Madhu and Kutti Madhu, were members of the local CPI(M) unit. While Kutti Madhu is the DYFI unit president in the area, Valiya Madhu is said to be well-connected with all the local CPI(M) leaders.
The case dates back to 2017 when a 13-year-old girl was found dead in their one-room shed in Walayar, a town in Kerala's Palakkad district, on January 13, 2017. Two months later, her nine-year-old sister, too, was found dead in the same manner on March 4, 2017. After the second child’s death, five men, including a juvenile, were charged with rape, sexual assault and abetment to suicide, barring charges of murder. After no direct or even circumstantial evidence against them, the Palakkad sessions court last month acquitted the four men of all offences against them.
The mother of the two girls then approached the Kerala High Court to reverse the judgment by the Palakkad sessions court.