In a surprising turn of events, the parents of the young girls in the Walayar rape case were named as accused in the CBI chargesheet submitted to the Ernakulam CBI court. They face charges with abetment to rape under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Manorama News reported that the CBI included the couples as accused for not disclosing the details of the abuse to the police on time.

Last year, the Kerala High Court ordered the transfer of the Walayar case, in which two minor sisters were found dead in their home in 2017 after allegedly being sexually assaulted, from the Palakkad POCSO Court to the CBI-designated court in Ernakulam. The order was passed in response to a petition filed by the CBI seeking to move the trial from the Special Court for POCSO cases in Palakkad to the Ernakulam CBI Court.

Former government pleader Pious Mathew was recently appointed as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special public prosecutor for cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) related to the Walayar rape and murder. The CBI is investigating the deaths of the two young sisters in Walayar following directions from the Kerala High Court.

The CBI argued that conducting the trial at the Palakkad POCSO Court would result in unnecessary administrative difficulties and delays in justice delivery. Since the CBI is required to file its final report only before a designated CBI court, the agency requested the transfer to the Ernakulam CBI Special Court, which the High Court approved.

Read more: How death of elder girl in Walayar went unnoticed: Lax parents, shoddy cops to blame?

The two minor girls, hailing from Walayar in Palakkad, were found hanging inside their house after alleged sexual assault in 2017. The eldest of the siblings aged 13 was found hanging inside their hut on January 13, 2017 and her nine-year old sister had died on March 4 that year in the same manner.

Though the mother had alleged that it was a case of murder, Walayar police came to the conclusion that the girls were sexually abused in an unnatural way by five persons, including a juvenile, for nearly one year till they died by suicide.

Allowing appeals filed by the state government and the mother of the children, the High Court had ordered a retrial in the case in January 2021, observing that there were “serious lapses” in the investigation and that there had been “miscarriage of justice”.

The High Court had also set aside an October 2019 order of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court acquitting the five accused for want of evidence.

CBI investigation
In November 2022, a new team from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the case. 
The new team, led by DySP VS Uma from the CBI's Kochi unit, was formed after the High Court rejected the earlier CBI report, stating it contained no new findings beyond those in the police charge sheet. 

The police charge had led to the acquittal of the five accused from the POCSO Court, following which the state government and the girls' mother approached the high court seeking a reinvestigation. The High Court directed the CBI to take over the case.

The POCSO court had acquitted all five accused, including the girls’ neighbour Pradeep Kumar, who was the third accused, on grounds of insufficient evidence. The prosecution had failed to establish charges of rape or murder. Pradeep was acquitted on September 30, 2019, followed by the first accused M Madhu, second accused V Madhu, and fourth accused Shibu on October 25, 2019. Shibu had been living with the family for eight years, and the first two accused were close relatives of the girls' mother.

After the acquittal, Pradeep took his own life.

The case has also faced controversy, as the former chairperson of the Palakkad Child Welfare Committee reportedly represented one of the accused during the trial before assuming office.