Vandiperiyar POCSO case: Victim’s father raises questions over police handling of SC/ST atrocity charge

Kattappana: The father of the six-year-old, who was raped and murdered in Vandiperiyar in Idukki over two years ago, said the police erred in not booking the accused under the Scheduled Castes andScheduled

Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. He accused the police of protecting the accused in this matter and that when he pointed out the law to them, they said adding it would only prolong the investigation.

“The police faltered at the beginning of the probe when they overlooked the fact that we belonged to a scheduled caste and the accused was an OBC (Other Backward Caste). I found out about this oversight only when I received a letter from the SC district office stating we would not get the Onmanorama Staff benefit. When I went to the police station to inform them that the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act could be added to the list of charges, the officers said they would look into it. However, they did not consider the charge. By then, a month had already passed. When I complained to the DySP, he asked me toapproach the CI. A letter by the Peermade MLA was also given to  me.

However, the police decided to protect the accused. If the charge of atrocities against SC/ST had been added, the DySP would have had to conduct a probe. So, they decided against adding the charge to avoid the probe,” said the girl’s father.

The victim’s father said he did not believe the police failed in its probe into the case.”Everything submitted to the court is true. It is the defendant who argued the police failed. However, the court only took the defence counsel’s argument at face value, which cannot be accepted. I will file an appeal to quash the acquittal. I believe Arjun is the accused. I also believe there has been no political interference in the case,” he said. A Special Fast Track Court in Kattappana on Thursday acquitted Arjun (24), a local DYFI worker, who was accused of sexually assaulting and murdering a six-year-old girl at Vandiperiyar on June 30, 2021, stating the police did not have sufficient evidence to incriminate him. However, the court upheld the charges of homicide and sexual assault. It observed that the prosecution failed to prove the charges under the POCSO Act against the accused and that there was a serious lapse from thepolice in gathering evidence.

Courtesy : onmanorama.com

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