Kerala High Court Orders Retrial In Rape, Death Case Of 2 Minor Sisters

In a crucial development, the Kerala High Court ordered a retrial in a rape and death case of two minor sisters in 2017 in Walayar. The girls were 13 and 9-years-old at the time and were from the scheduled caste community. Both sisters were sexually assaulted, police said, and were found hanging two months apart.

The High Court has set aside the verdict of a trial court which acquitted all the accused in the case and ordered for a retrial.

The elder sister was found hanging in a shed, where the victim and her family was living, in January 2017 and her younger sister, who was a witness in the case, was found hanging two months later.

While four accused were acquitted by the trial court, one of them died by suicide during the trial.

The mother as well as the state government had appealed against the trial court verdict. She has repeatedly stated that she believes her daughters did not die by suicide and the police allegedly twisted her statement.

The Hight Court, ordering the retrial said, "We are disheartened to note the manner in which the learned Judge conducted the trial. He failed to perform a proactive role at the time of taking evidence."

"Constrained to observe that the initial part of the investigation was disgusting. Despite a reasonable good job done by the DySP (Deputy Superintendent of Police), the investigating officer, who was deputed to investigate this case almost a week after the young girl's death, he could not gather any proper scientific evidence. Materials on record clearly indicate that the poor girls were living in unsafe family environment," the court said on the investigation in the case.

The trial court while acquitting the accused, had slammed the police for their failure to prove the crime and lack of evidence in the case. Though the police had said that post-mortem report showed severe sexual abuse, the trial court had stated lack of evidence as reason for acquittal.

The parents had also held a dharna outside the state secretariat in October 2020 demanding justice.

Several political organisations in Kerala, including student wings of both the Communist Party of India (CPI), the BJP and the Congress had protested outside the secretariat in state capital Thiruvananthapuram to demand justice over the acquittals in the case.

The High Court has ordered the accused to appear before the trial court on January 20.