‘Victim’ says police forced her to file charges against godman
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : In a new twist to the Kerala bobbitisation case, the woman, who allegedly chopped off 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, which grabbed headlines, has witnessed a few twists and turns since the incident took place on May 18.
The 23-year-old law student had initially told the police that she cut off 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 had told police that the self-styled godman had been raping her since she was a minor.
The swami, however, had told doctors that 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 the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act), demanding the CBI probe as she “lost faith” in the state police.
However, police suspect a foul play saying she was forced to retract her earlier statement under pressure.
Earlier, the woman in a letter to the defence lawyer claimed that she had never attacked the “godman” and blamed three former aides of Theerthapada of hatching a conspiracy.
She alleged that one of the three aides, Ayyappadas, had attacked the so-called godman.
She also claimed that she was forced to sign a statement prepared by the police and she was 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 first twist in the case came last month when the woman’s mother, in a letter to Kerala Police, said her daughter was not of sound mental health and that the swami had never harassed her.
The case has attracted national attention and there was uproar when police tried to register a case against the woman for attacking the “godman.”
Congress MP and author Shashi Tharoor was trolled for suggesting that the woman should have approached the police instead of taking law into her hands.
POLICE SEEK LIE DETECTOR TEST
The investigating team has also approached the court seeking a lie-detection test and brain-mapping tests on the student. Her frequent change of statements has put the investigation team in a fix. “Since the woman is changing her statements and it will affect the investigation, we have to have a scientific investigation so that truth will come out,” City Police commissioner, G Sparjan Kumar, told news agency PTI.
WOMEN ACTIVISTS SAID 23YEAROLD LAW STUDENT WAS FORCED TO CHANGE HER INITIAL STATEMENT TO PROTECT THE ACCUSED GODMAN