THE STORY SO FAR
13 January, 2017: 4 March, 2017: 10 March, 2017:
A girl, 13-years old, from a Dalit family at hamlet Attappalam near Walayar in Palakkad district on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, was found hanging on the rafter of the single room shed where her family stays The police registered a case of unnatural death but later ended the investigation saying it was a suicide. Her sister, 9 years old, was found hanging on the same rafter. Her post mortem report found “evidence suggestive of unnatural sexual offence on the girl in the form of multiple episodes of anal penetrations in the past.”
A special investigation team arrests five persons, including a boy who is in conflict with the law. They were charged with rape, and various sections under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
October 25, 2019:
After 30 months of investigation and prosecution, the court has come to the conclusion: (from one of the judgements that acquitted an accused in the death of the younger girl): "Therefore, from the available evidences it can be concluded that the victim in this case, who is aged only nine years, committed suicide by hanging herself by making use of a lungi as the ligature, in the one room shed wherein she was residing with her family." "Though prosecution witness 15, the doctor, who conducted postmortem examination, opined that there was evidence suggestive of unnatural sexual offence on the girl in the form of multiple episodes of anal penetrations in the past, (the) said opinion given by the expert is not a conclusive proof to say that the girl was subjected to anal penetration." "Therefore, I have no hesitation to hold that prosecution has miserably failed to prove the alleged offences against the accused beyond reasonable doubt." From a judgment acquitting an accused in the death of the elder girl: During investigation, no other reason was found by the investigating officer to say that the girl died other than by way of suicide. Neither the prosecution nor the defence has a case during evidence that the girl died not by committing suicide. Therefore, from the available evidence it can be concluded that the victim in this case, who is aged only thirteen years, committed suicide by hanging herself by making use of a churidar shawl as the ligature, in the one room shed wherein she was residing with her family.