The Kerala government, police and the prosecution have come under severe criticism when the POCSO court acquitted all the accused in the suicide of two minor sisters at Walayar in Palakkad district. The postmortem report said that both the sisters were raped before their deaths.
The suicides occurred during the months of January and March 2017. While the elder sister, aged 11, committed suicide in January, he sister, aged 9, killed herself in March. Five persons including a juvenile were accused and arrested after protests arose against the tragic deaths of the sisters.
The accused were booked for abetment of suicide, rape, atrocities against SC/ST, and POCSO. However, there is wide criticism that the investigation was shoddy, which helped the accused in court.
Though, postmortem report says that the sisters were sexually assaulted the prosecution failed to prove the role of the accused in the case.
The opposition parties including the BJP and the Congress have come out heavily against the government in the issue. The accused are reported to be communist activists and the opposition blames the police for trying to help the accused in the case.
The BJP leaders have demanded a re-investigation into the case and blamed the police and the prosecution of conspiracy to help the accused in the court. They also blamed both CPI(M) and Congress for trying to help the accused.
Though the police said that it will go for an appeal against the acquittal, the victims’ mother told the media that going for an appeal will have no results. She also said that there is no use of another investigation by the Kerala police. The victims’ family said that they have no trust in the police investigation.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala also accused the police, the prosecution and the government for helping all the accused escape the law. He also demanded that the action must be initiated against the investigation officers who are at fault.
He demanded that the case must be investigated by an independent agency.
However, the police have rejected the claim that the investigation was faulty and has decided to go for an appeal. The police decided to go for an appeal follows after strong protests were raised against the police for its handling of the case.
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