The POCSO court here on Friday granted bail to two of the accused in the Walayar minor sisters’ death case.
The court released first accused V. Madhu and third accused Shibu on conditional bail after their counsel convinced the court that they had not influenced any of the witnesses while they had been out on bail earlier. The court, however, banned Madhu and Shibu from entering Palakkad district for six months. They will have to appear at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office at Thiruvananthapuram on alternate Saturdays. They were also proscribed from leaving Kerala.
They were asked to deposit ₹1 lakh each as guarantee and they were directed to sign every month at the police station of the place they live.
The CBI, finding in its investigation that the death of the two minor sisters was due to suicide, also prompted the court to grant bail to the accused. M. Madhu, another accused in the case, was already granted bail by the High Court.
The victim’s mother said here on Friday that revocation of the bail of the accused would lead to influencing of the witnesses.
The action council for Walayar Justice, meanwhile, blamed the CBI for the bail granted to the accused. Action council chairman Vilayodi Venugopal, convener V.M. Marsen, and patron C.R. Neelakandan said in a statement here on Friday that the CBI repeated the version of the Kerala Police because the investigating agency was under pressure from some big shots.
They accused the CBI of working for some influential people. “We will not go back from our agitation until the culprits behind the death of the two little girls are brought to book,” they said.
They said that the CBI had ignored the statements given by the victim’s mother and the action council and reiterated the dubious claims of the State police. They said the CBI had made little effort to investigate the case.
They warned that they would strengthen the agitation on September 13, the birthday of the elder sibling who had been found hanging in their house at Attappallam, near Walayar, on January 13, 2017. Her younger sister was also found hanging in the same room on March 4, 2017.
The postmortem reports had said that both girls had been victims of sexual abuse. In spite of allegations of political interventions and the involvement of persons well connected with the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, the police investigation found that the siblings had committed suicide.
The case, in which rape and murder were alleged, sparked an outrage and invited national attention when the POCSO Court here exonerated all the accused for want of evidence in October 2019.
The victims’ mother, with the support of the action council formed by Dalit and human rights activists, approached the government seeking a reinvestigation. She also approached the High Court demanding an inquiry by the CBI.
Pradeep Kumar M., one of the five accused in the case, committed suicide on November 4, 2020. He was found hanging in his house at Cherthala.
The CBI took over the case following an order by the High Court in March 2021. The CBI team led by DySP Anantha Krishnan had rejected the murder claim on the basis of lack of scientific evidence.
However, on August 10, the POCSO court here rejected the CBI chargesheet and ordered a reinvestigation in the case. The court ordered the reinvestigation following a plea by the victims’ mother against the CBI findings.
