The mother of the two minor girls in Palakkad’s Walayar, who were raped and allegedly murdered in 2017, has begun an indefinite hunger strike, seeking action against the police officers, who are accused of sabotaging the investigation in the case. She began the protest, with the support of the Walayar Neethi (justice) Forum, on Tuesday morning near the the Stadium Bus Stand in Palakkad, Kerala.
The strike comes two weeks after the Kerala government accepted the family’s demand and agreed to hand over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). However, the mother told TNM that the case has not been handed over to the CBI yet, despite the state government’s assurance.
“Irrespective of the CBI probe began, my protest is to take action against those officials who sabotaged the investigation in the initial phase. The officials spoke ill about my children and asked my husband to admit to committing the crime that he didn’t do. Action should be taken against them,” she said.
The case pertains to the rape and death of two sisters, a 13-year-old and nine-year-old. The elder one was found hanging in their one-room shed in Walayar on January 13, 2017. The younger one, too, was found dead in the same house and the same manner two months later, on March 4.
MJ Sojan, who was a deputy superintendent of police, was the investigating officer in the case. Sojan, who later got promoted, had even made derogatory and insensitive comments about the deceased victims, stating that they enjoyed the sexual assault.
In October 2019, the Palakkad Special Court had acquitted all the four accused in October 2019 — V Madhu, M Madhu, Pradeep Kumar and juvenile boy. In November, Pradeep was found dead at his residence in Alappuzha in a suspected case of suicide.
The mother has been on protest for over the past several months seeking justice for her children. Several activists backed her and her husband in the protest.
In 2020, the Kerala government had approached the High Court, seeking to set aside the verdict of the Palakkad Special Court. In January 2021, the mother had submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, citing lapses in the inquiry by the police, seeking action against the erring officials and CBI enquiry into the case.
The Kerala High Court, on January 6 this year, ordered a retrial in the case, setting aside a lower court order that acquitted the accused. The court had also given the prosecution the liberty to seek further investigation in the case.