Kerala Govt criticised for showing laxity in Walayar Dalit girls' alleged rape & murder

As the Kerala government's laxity in giving justice to Walayar tribal girls has become a talking point, the former public prosecutor who appeared in the Walayar sexual abuse and death case, Jalaja Madhavan, through Facebook penned a strong criticism against the Pinarayi Vijayan government.

Jalaja, who was the prosecutor in the case for three months, has taken on the police and its shoddy investigation in the matter. She also lashed out against the Child Welfare Committee and admonished the government for blaming the prosecution for the delay in justice to the Dalits.

Jalaja had replaced special prosecutor Latha Jayaraj in the case. But within three months the former was replaced with the latter. Addressing the media, she pulled no punches and revealed much information which proved how sabotage in the investigation had taken place. 

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"After the elder girl was found hanging after being sexually assaulted, the CWC didn't initiate actions. The death of the second girl, which happened 52 days later, in the same manner, could have been avoided had the CWC not been passive in the investigation," she said.

She also criticised the PK Haneef Commission, which was probing the apses in the investigation. She said the commission didn't take her full statement but instead asked only one question: Why the confessional statement of the fourth accused in the case Pradeep Kumar didn't carry the date of deposition. 

She also told the media that she had given a statement to the commission that there were lapses by DySP M J Sojan. Lamenting that she was the special public prosecutor for only three months and that was too little time to understand the full case as there were five other POCSO cases she was handling and only one court. 

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"The DySP was not cooperating with me. Whenever I tried to clarify on certain points, he would evade and not be present," she said. Jalaja was abruptly removed by the Home Department without giving any explanation. "The home department had the responsibility to let me know the reason for taking me out," she said.

Talking about the case, Jalaja said the evidence is circumstantial and not scientific. She opinioned that a fresh FIR needs to be filed which includes it as murder. "In the present case, the charge sheet itself says it as a case of suicide," she said and added with same witnesses a reprobe is not possible.

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42 POCSO cases in Walayar, 0 conviction

Ever since the POCSO act came to fore in 2012, there have been 42 cases under the act registered in Walayar, a backward region which is home to a large SC-ST community. 

However, the Walayar Police admits that not a single conviction has taken place in any of these cases. "Most of the accused are relatives or neighbours of the survivor," stated a social activist. Two of the accused in the Walayar case M Madhu and V Madhu are close relatives of the victims' mother, while another accused Shibu had been living with the family for eight years. The two other accused in the case are Pradeep Kumar and a juvenile.

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