Idukki: The police here on Saturday arrested the relative of the man acquitted in the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in Vandiperiyar for allegedly attacking the father of the victim. Police slapped attempted murder charges on Palraj (46), the paternal uncle of Arjun who was acquitted in the rape and murder case.
As per the FIR, the accused intended to kill the girl's father to avenge his nephew's arrest. Vandiperiyar police booked Palraj for offences under section 307 (attempted murder), 324 (causing hurt with a dangerous weapon) and 294(b) (uttering obscene words in publlc) under the IPC.
Palraj reportedly attacked the girl's father and grandfather with a knife at Pasumala junction near Vandiperiyar town on Saturday morning.
The duo was on the way to attend a funeral at Churakulam, police said. When they reached the junction, the accused provoked them by showing an obscene gesture. The victim's father questioned this which led to a quarrel between the two. As the argument escalated, Palraj took a knife hidden in his belt and stabbed the man. The victim's grandfather suffered injuries on his shoulder while trying to resist the attack on his son.
The girl's father suffered injuries on his stomach and both legs in the attack. He was rushed to the nearby hospital by local residents and later shifted to Kottayam Government Medical College Hospital. Though the accused managed to flee from the spot, police nabbed him from Peerumedu.
Congress to stage protest on Sunday
After the incident, Congress workers protested in front of the Vandiperiyar police station demanding protection for the victim's family. The protest ended after senior police officials assured them that police would step up vigil.
Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan on Saturday alleged that the police refused to give protection to the victim's kin despite reports of threats from the family of the acquitted youth. The KPCC has announced a protest on January 7, Sunday at Vandiperiyar expressing solidarity with the victim's family.
Meanwhile, BJP state president K Surendran alleged that the law and order situation in Kerala has deteriorated.
A POCSO court had on December 14 acquitted Arjun (24), in the case saying the "prosecution failed to establish all the circumstances which are consistent with the guilt of the accused and inconsistent with his innocence."
The Kerala High Court on January 4 admitted the state government's appeal against the acquittal in the case.
The six-year-old girl was found hanging inside her house on June 30, 2021, when her parents went out to work at a nearby plantation. Police had initially registered a case of unnatural death but the autopsy report confirmed that the child was raped before she was hanged.
(With PTI inputs)
