On a day of incessant rains, not unusual in coastal Karnataka, Kusumavathi points to a tree in the backyard of her house where her daughter Soujanya was laid to rest 11 years ago. “The sapling we planted at the place we buried her has grown into a tree, giving so much shade. While nature has done its bit, investigating agencies have failed us,” says the mother who lost her teenage daughter to a crime she cannot reconcile with.
In Dharmasthala, a famous pilgrim centre at the foothills of the Western Ghats that draws lakhs every day, the mother of Soujanya, who was 17 when she was raped and murdered in 2012, still awaits justice. As the case was botched up at the inception of the investigation by the local police and a doctor who performed the autopsy, the hope for justice anytime in future is thin.
After 11 years of investigations by multiple agencies, a Criminal Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court recently acquitted the lone accused, Santosh Rao. The court categorically stated while pronouncing the verdict on June 16, 2023, that there is no evidence against Santhosh.
