Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday ordered the arrest of all the accused in the Walayar sisters' death case who have been acquitted by a trial court.
The high court issued a bailable arrest warrant against the accused citing the chances of them fleeing the country if they are found guilty after the re-investigation.
The court was considering the appeals filed by the Kerala government and the girls' parents challenging the acquittal of the accused case. The government in its appeal had said that the lower court verdict was "absolutely perverse and wholly unsustainable."
The case will be considered again in May.
M Madhu, Shibu and V Madhu were acquitted by the POCSO court in Palakkad for want of evidence. Another accused Pradeepkumar was acquitted during the trial. The POCSO court in Palakkad, while acquitting the accused, pulled up the investigation team, saying it did not present enough scientific evidence in the case. The trial of a minor accused is going on at a juvenile court.
Public outcry and protests erupted in Kerala seeking justice to the family of the Dalit sisters after a special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court in Palakkad acquitted the accused on October 25.
The elder child, aged 13, was found dead on January 13, 2017, and the younger child, aged nine, died 52 days later at their house at Shelvapuram in Attapallam near Walayar. Post-mortem reports suggested they were sexually assaulted.
The state government, in its appeal, sought a direction to call for the records of the case, set aside the sessions court judgment and convict the accused for the offences or order an investigation into the crime.
The government admitted that the police failed to conduct a foolproof investigation touching upon all areas, which should have been covered.
The government had announced in the state assembly that the public prosecutor who handled it was removed and said a probe was on to identify lapses in the police inquiry.
The mother of two minor girls, who were found dead in Walayar, had approached the Kerala High Court, on November 12, seeking to quash the order of Palakkad special court (POCSO Act) acquitting all the accused in the case.
The girls' mother in her plea to the high court had said the court acquitted the accused persons who were charge- sheeted for rape and abetment of suicide, disbelieving eyewitness accounts.
The trial court dealt with the case in a most casual manner and it failed to take an active role in the trial process to ensure that a fair trial was conducted, the woman contended in her plea.
The acquittal of the accused in the case by the POCSO court had led to a lot of anger and protests by political parties and NGOs as they alleged the "Kerala police deliberately did a bad investigation to help the accused come out of the case."
