Kochi: Walayar sisters’ mother moves High Court
The 13-year-old was found hanging on January 13, 2017 and the nine-year-old was found hanging 2017 March 4.
Kochi: The mother of the two sisters at Walayar who were found hanging after being subjected to prolonged sexual abuse has filed an appeal in the High Court agianst the order of the trial court which found the accused not guilty and set them free.
The appeal has been filed against the order of the Palakkad POCSO court which set free Walayar Nagamkulangara native Pradeep Kumar who is the accused in the case registered following the death of the nine-year-old under mysterious circumstances and Palakkad Puthussery native Madhu who was set free after being arraigned in the death of the 13-year-old. The appeals against setting free other accused will be filed in the coming days.
The 13-year-old was found hanging on January 13, 2017 and the nine-year-old was found hanging 2017 March 4.
The case is that the two committed suicide unable to bear the abuse of the accused. Madhu was arrested on 2017 March 9 and Pradeep Kumar on March 10.
The trial court, however, set them free stating that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against them. The appeal demands to annul the trial court order and hold the trial again by appointing a special prosecutor.
It also demands that the Supreme Court guidelines in the Best Bakery case should be made applicable in this case too. The appeal also says that the trial court set them free by not cognisance of the deposition of the petitioner and her husband as witnesses.
An argument put forward is that they deposed so beforw the new investigating officer in the case and failed to point out it before. The court rejected their plea that they did so considering the future of the children.
The court also did not give enough seriousness to the fact that the children were severely abused. There was no strong intervention from the court.
The District Child Welfare Committee chairman who represented the accused led to the failure of the prosecution. The investigation team wilted under political pressure. It said that there are extraordinary cirumstances in the case which demand retrial. The case may come up on Wednesday.