'Prosecution Miserably Failed To Prove Offence' : POCSO Court Acquits Accused In Walayar Rape-Death Case [Read Judgment]

Massive outrage is building up in Kerala civil society following the acquittal of all four persons in the rape and death case of two minor girls, who were siblings, at Walayar in Palakkad district of the Kerala in 2017.The elder sister, aged 13, was found hanging in her house on January 13, 2017. Within two months, the younger sister, aged 9, was also found hanging in her house on March 4, 2017. Both of them belonged to Scheduled Caste community. As per the postmortem reports, both the girls were subjected to sexual assault. The autopsy report in the case of the younger girl even suggested the possibility of homicidal hanging.The police however did not explore the angle of murder, and final report was submitted against four accused - V Madhu, M Madhu, Shibu and Pradeep Kumar- for offences of abetment of suicide, rape and unnatural sex under the Indian Penal Code and penetrative sexual assault under the POCSO Act. There is one more accused, who is a juvenile and proceedings against him are progressing in the Juvenile Justice Board.The Special POCSO Court, Palakkad had acquitted one of the accused Pradeep Kumar on September 30. The other three accused were acquitted by the Special Court on October 25.The acquittals in this case have jolted the society, with complaints arising from several quarters that the probe in the case was deliberately sabotaged. The appointment of Advocate N Rajesh, who appeared for the accused in the case for long time, as the Chairman of the Child Welfare Committee during the pendency of the trial added to the controversy. It was only after his appointment as CWC Chairman that he relinquished the brief of the accused in the case. Rajesh was removed as the CWC Chairman on Monday following the furore.The case got echoed in the Kerala Legislative Assembly on Monday with the opposition highlighting the lapses in investigation and prosecution. The Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stated in the floor of the assembly that the government will examine if there are any such lapses and will decide on the need for a re-investigation or CBI probe. The government would appeal against the verdict and seek the services of an experienced lawyer, the CM added. While the copy of the judgment acquitting three accused on October 25 is awaited, the judgment dated September 30 which acquitted Pradeep Kumar has been released.A look at the judgment will reveal that the case was built on weak evidence."I have no hesitation to hold that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove the alleged offences against the accused beyond reasonable doubt", observed Judge Muralee Krishna S, 1st Additional Sesssions Judge, Palakkad, in the judgment acquitting Pradeep Kumar.The case was completely based on circumstantial evidence. The Court observed that the police had no case that the girl had died other than by way of suicide."Neither the prosecution nor the defence has a case during evidence that the girl died not by committing suicide", the Court said.No direct evidence of sexual abusePradeep Kumar was residing in a rented house about 100 meters away from the girls' family. It was established in trial that he used to give tuition classes to the girl at his home.The sexual abuse of the girl by Pradeep Kumar was sought to be proved through the depositions of three young women who were examined as Prosecution Witnesses 9, 10 and 12.They told the Court that the elder sister confided in them that Pradeep Kumar had exhibited his nudity to her. The witnesses stated that the victim had became scared and perplexed when she encountered Pradeep Kumar on way. PW12 added that the girl told her that the accused had once locked her in a room and asked her to click his nude pictures from his mobile phone.The Court however disbelieved their statements based on contradictions regarding the timing of the girl's statements about the accused. In fact, two of them - PW9 and 11 - had turned hostile during trial.According to PW9, the girl told about the accused when they were out together for canvassing votes for legislative assembly elections. PW10 said that the statements were made by the girl when they were canvassing for a student political organization. As per PW12, her mother was contesting in the Panchayat elections and the victim girl had accompanied her for election work. The statements about the accused were made then, PW12 said."This contradiction in the depositions of these witnesses is sufficient to doubt the genuineness of the depositions", the Court said.The Court also noted that the statements made by PW12 regarding the accused giving the deceased a mobile phone to click his nude photos were not found in her statement given to the police under Section 161 CrPC. This omission was treated as a material contradiction by the Court. In this regard, the Court referred to the precedent laid down by SC in Subhash v State of Haryana which stated that a significant omission made by a witness in the statement given to police...

'Prosecution Miserably Failed To Prove Offence' : POCSO Court Acquits Accused In Walayar Rape-Death Case [Read Judgment]

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