Palakkad: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has been blamed for trying to scuttle the probe into the mysterious death of two minor sisters at their house at Walayar in Kerala's Palakkad district a couple of years ago. The mother of the deceased alleged people associated with a Left party intervened to get the suspects off the hook. On Friday, a special court dealing with crimes against children had acquitted the three accused in the case, while observing that the prosecution had failed to prove the crime.
"Workers of the party with the sickle symbol released the suspect from the police station at night," the woman said.
(Communist parties worldwide use a hammer and sickle as the party symbol. In Kerala both CPM and CPI have sickle as one of the elements in their respective symbols.)
The children, who were found dead in the same spot of the house within two months in 2017, were sexually abused.
The elder daughter was found dead on January 13, 2017. Fifty-two days after her death, her younger sister too was found dead.
On the very day the first death was reported, the woman had told the police that she had seen one of the accused harassing her daughter. The police then took him into custody and he was taken to the Walayar police station by 7 pm.
It was earlier alleged a leader of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the CPM, had allegedly telephoned to the police station, seeking his release. Subsequently, a local committee member and branch secretary of the CPM too reportedly came directly to the station and walked out with the accused.
The mother's statements on Sunday lend credence to the allegations that the police had ignored the preliminary finding of the autopsy report that the girl was sexually abused after the CPM leaders intervened. And that the cops dubbed it to be a case of suicide without conducting any further probe.
The post-mortem clearly pointed out that the younger child too was sexually abused.
During the ensuing probe, the police arrested among others the same person, who was caught after the first death and then let off.
The probe team had found that the younger child fell prey to sexual abuse after the death of her elder sister.
The mother also remarked that if the police had resisted political pressure and took action in the first case, then at least the life of the little girl could have been saved.
CPM denies any role
The Puthussery area committee of the CPM has denied any role of the party in the sisters' death and said that the government should file an appeal in the case.
The CPM district committee also demanded that steps be taken to ensure that the culprits are punished.
"The mystery shrouding the case has to be unravelled. Justice should be served to the family of the minor girls. We welcome the decision to file an appeal against the POCSO court's verdict," the district leadership said.
