The police have submitted a charge sheet in Thalassery district and sessions court on Tuesday in Palathayi child sexual abuse case in Kerala, in which BJP leader K Padmarajan is the accused. The Special Investigation Team monitored by Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) EJ Jayaraj, and led by Taliparamba Deputy Superintendent of Police TK Rathnakumar, conducted a probe again and submitted new chargesheet including charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Earlier, the crime branch had submitted a chargesheet excluding POCSO charges, which had invited a huge controversy.
Padmarajan was accused of sexually harassing a girl in class 4 studying in a school in Palathayi in Kannur district, where he worked as a teacher. Though the Kannur Police had initially arrested him under sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) and Indian Penal Code (IPC), but when the case was taken over by the Crime Branch team, headed by S Sreejith, Inspector General of Police, Crime Branch, the investigation report was filed in the case without POCSO charges.
This had led the accused to come out on bail, inviting state-wide criticism. There was also flak against the fact that sections of the POCSO Act were removed from the first charge-sheet. Following a huge protest, S Sreejith had to step down from the investigation. An audio clip alleged to be of Sreejith had surfaced, where he could be heard justifying the removal of POCSO sections and blaming it on contradictory statements from the survivor regarding the dates of the assault.
In October 2020, Kerala High Court had ordered to reconstitute the Special Investigation Team probing Palathayi case. A month later, another team was formed, without Sreejith. The girl's parents had earlier moved the HC stating that they don’t have faith in the investigation led by Sreejith.