As the protest over lapses in police investigation into the sexual assault and death of two minor girls in Walayar in Palakkad continues with not solely the Opposition but various organisations clamouring for a re-investigation in the case, former BJP state President Kummanam Rajasekharan staged a fast, calling for CBI probe into the case.
The one-day fast concluded in front of the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. Kummanam, while speaking to TNM at the protest site, said that the government has failed in booking the real culprits, alleging that they are Communist party leaders’ who are local leaders of the party and not ordinary workers.
The First Additional Sessions Judge (Special POCSO court) in Palakkad on Friday, October 25, had acquitted the accused in the crime that happened two years ago.
“It’s to protect the leaders that the government machinery, the police, the prosecution.., everyone has come together. The government should take initiative in ordering a fresh probe in the case to book the real culprits and to bring them before the law,” Kummanam said. He added that the current police machinery is not well equipped to book the real culprits in the case and hence a fresh investigation is essential either by the CBI or by forming a special investigation team (SIT) with forensic experts. The government should do this in consensus with the parents of the girls.
On the credentials of a fresh enquiry as there is no direct evidence but circumstantial evidence only, Kummanam said that more evidence could be collected from the witnesses and statement of the witnesses should be recorded again.
The government has decided to file an appeal in the case, but the BJP leader said that a re-trial with the existing evidence won’t make any difference.
Apart from the BJP workers, leaders like state General Secretary MT Ramesh, former DGP TP Senkumar who is a BJP fellow-traveler now, and former Naxalite Philip M Prasad have also gathered at the fasting venue.
The BJP plans to undertake a march from Walayar to the government office in the state, till a CBI probe is ordered in the case.
KPCC head also to stage fast
Meanwhile, the Congress has planned ‘Manishada’ — a public gathering demanding a CBI probe into the case and KPCC (Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee) President Mullappally Ramachandran will stage a one-day fast in Palakkad on November 4 as part of this. AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal is scheduled to inaugurate the fast.