Hindustan Times (Delhi)

Police now in a fix as ‘victim’ retracts

- Ramesh Babu letters@hindustant­imes.com (With PTI inputs)

In a new twist to the Kerala bobbitisat­ion case, the woman, who allegedly chopped off the genitals of a “godman” while resisting his rape attempt, demanded a CBI probe into the incident, accusing police of forcing her to give statements against the accused.

The bizarre case has witnessed twists and turns since the incident on May 18. The 23-year-old law student initially told police that she cut off the genitals of 52-year-old G Theerthapa­da alias Sreehari (godman) in self-defence when he made sexual advances towards her.

Many, including Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, had lauded her act. The woman told police the godman had been raping her since she was a minor.

But the swami told doctors he himself had tried to sever his penis. After retracting her earlier statement, the woman on Saturday submitted a fresh petition before the special court dealing with cases under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act), demanding the CBI probe as she “lost faith” in the state police.

However, police suspect foul play, saying she was forced to retract her earlier statement under pressure. Earlier, the woman in a letter to the defence lawyer claimed she had never attacked the “godman” and blamed his three former aides of hatching a conspiracy. She alleged that one of them, Ayyappadas, had attacked the godman.

She also claimed she was forced to sign a statement prepared by police and not aware of its content. Since the lower court has no jurisdicti­on to order a CBI probe, the case is likely to be referred to a high court. Women activists said she was forced to change her initial statement to protect the godman. The investigat­ing team has approached court seeking a liedetecti­on test and brain-mapping tests on the student. Her frequent change of statements has put the investigat­ion team in a fix.

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