The Kerala government has ordered a judicial probe into the deaths of the two minors in Walayar, Palakkad. The cabinet appointed former Vigilance Tribunal Judge S Haneefa to head the probe.
The cabinet ordered the probe one day after the state government told the Kerala High Court that there were grave shortcomings in the probe by the police as well as on the part of the public prosecutor in dealing with the case, and asked for the verdict by the Palakkad POCSO court acquitting the four accused to be quashed.
However, the mother of the two girls told media that she wanted a CBI probe into the deaths of her daughters. The opposition too has been demanding a CBI inquiry.
According to reports, the judicial probe will look into shortcomings of the investigation into the deaths of the minors. Both were found hanging from the ceiling of their house in 2017. While the postmortem report of the girl had indicated that she had been sexually assaulted, the doctor had also said that homicidal death could be ruled out in the case only after an investigation. However, both the leads were not investigated thoroughly by the police.
The state government, after filing an appeal for further investigation in the case, on Wednesday told the High Court that there was no coordination between the police and the public prosecutor. Even after two months, the investigating officials could not identify the suspects.
The judicial probe will recommend punitive measures against those found guilty, according to reports. The committee will also suggest measures to be adopted to avoid such lapses in the future. The committee will also find out if the accused had the backing of the local CPI(M) leaders following the deaths, as alleged by the opposition.