Kannur: A school teacher who led the RSS National Teachers’ Union (NTU) in Kannur has been sentenced to life imprisonment till death for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old student inside the school.

Kuniyil Padmarajan, who also served as president of the BJP’s Trippangottur Grama Panchayat Committee, was additionally fined ₹2 lakh by the Fast-Track Special Court in Thalassery on Saturday. Fast-Track Judge Jalajarani M had found him guilty on four counts of sexual assault on Friday.

The court awarded him life imprisonment till death under Section 376AB of the IPC for raping a girl below 12 years and imposed a ₹1 lakh fine under this section.

He was also sentenced to 20 years each under Sections 5(f) and 5(l) of the POCSO Act for repeated aggravated penetrative sexual assault by a teacher, along with fines of ₹50,000 each.

According to the Public Prosecutor, Padmarajan will first serve the 20-year sentence under the POCSO Act before beginning the life imprisonment till death term.

The Palathayi POCSO case became a test of the system. Police first tried to discredit the Class IV survivor, prompting the High Court to intervene twice and replace the investigation team. While the BJP claimed the case was an SDPI conspiracy to malign its leader, the Congress and the Muslim League formed a people’s committee to keep pressure on the probe.

According to the prosecution, Padmarajan sexually assaulted the child in the school bathroom three times in mid-January 2020. After one assault, the girl who had not yet reached puberty began bleeding.  An Arabic teacher, who gave her a sanitary pad to stop the bleeding then, asked the girl's mother to consult a doctor. On January 18, the mother took her to gynaecologist Dr Vasumathi, who did not conduct a physical examination but prescribed a tonic.

The child’s father had died before she was born, and she was raised by her mother, who had no reliable income. The crime came to light only when the girl, a scholarship winner and class leader, suddenly refused to go to school.

Sensing something was wrong, her mother took her to her younger sister’s home. While their little cousins were playing, one child called Padmarajan a “begudu mash” (stupid teacher). “The survivor corrected her by saying the teacher was not just stupid but ‘bhayankara begudu’ (very stupid),” said her counsel, Adv Muhammed Janaise.

Her aunt, unsettled by what she heard, called her schoolmate Bijoy, a teacher at the same school, and told him she wanted the transfer certificates of both girls, as disturbing things were happening there. “The aunt did not know what exactly had happened,” said Adv Janaise.

The sisters then called their brother, and the family approached the police on March 16, 2020. The same day, they also alerted Childline about the teacher.

The child opened up to Thalassery DySP K V Venugopal, who transferred the complaint to the Panoor police station but ensured that the FIR reflected the girl’s statement. The FIR was registered under Section 376 of the IPC for rape.

That day, she was taken to the General Hospital, Thalassery, where doctors recorded injuries to her genital area consistent with sexual assault.

But the Panoor police, headed by SHO Sreejith, did not arrest Padmarajan for nearly a month, triggering protests by Youth League and Congress in Palathayi. The family hired Adv B P Sasindran and Adv Janaise and decided to approach the High Court.

On April 15, 2020, the government formed an 11-member special team led by DySP Venugopal. That same day, the police arrested Padmarajan from Poyiloor in Vilakottur village.

Soon, the police began questioning the girl’s mental fitness. She was sent to the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS), Kozhikode. “Inspector Sreejith, who was hostile to the girl, was present at IMHANS,” said Adv Janaise. “We had already gone to the High Court against his investigation,” IMHANS reported that the child was mentally stable.

The inspector then tried to shift the blame to a madrasa teacher and even her maternal uncle. The girl was upset following this.

By then, on the High Court’s direction, a new special investigation team (SIT) was formed under Inspector General S Sreejith. When we asked for a female officer, Narcotics Cell ASP Reshma Ramesh was included in the team, said Adv Janaise. DySP P Madhusoodanan was also part of the team.

But IG Sreejith’s investigation shocked the family the most. He concluded the child had fabricated the allegation to get back at a strict teacher who beat students. He submitted the charge sheet hours before the 90-day statutory bail window closed. Not only did he omit the POCSO charges, but he also dropped the rape offence recorded in the FIR. “The case became one of a teacher beating a student. The charge sheet carried Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act for cruelty and Section 324 of the IPC,” said Adv Janaise.

A day after the charge sheet was filed, an audio clip of IG Sreejith surfaced on social media in which he said the survivor had lied about the sexual assault, even as he admitted Padmarajan was “a wicked fellow not fit to be a teacher”. The officer also divulged details of the child’s confidential magistrate statement, the counsel said.

In the phone conversation, Sreejith said the dates the girl provided could not be corroborated, as during the date, the accused was on leave. Also, the bathroom in which she was allegedly assaulted did not have a latch.

IG Sreejith later submitted to the court a report prepared by counsellors after interviewing the child. Three counsellors and a psychologist interviewed the girl for 30 days. “She cried throughout and fainted several times,” said Adv Janaise.

When the child said she could not recall the dates of the assaults, the counsellors recorded dates provided by the police, days when the accused was on leave, he alleged.

In their CrPC 161 statements, the police even floated a theory that the girl’s family framed the teacher over his pro-NRC Facebook posts.

After IG Sreejith’s charge sheet, the family again approached the High Court for a fresh investigation. Public Prosecutor Suman Chakravarthy supported their plea.

“Justice P V Kunhikrishnan not only directed the police chief to form a new team but said none of the earlier officers should be part of it,” said Adv Janaise.

The new team, headed by ADGP E J Jayarajan with DySP T P Ratnakumar as the investigating officer, uncovered crucial evidence. Ratnakumar’s team found blood samples in the bathroom, and that bathroom did have a latch. The final charge sheet invoked Section 376AB (rape of a girl under 12) and Sections 5(f), 5(l), and 5(m) read with Section 6 of the POCSO Act for repeated aggravated penetrative sexual assault by a teacher.

During the investigation and trial, the school’s headmaster marked the child present on days she was absent, claiming it was to ensure she received midday meals. But in court, he testified she had attended school, the family’s lawyer said. After the leaked audio of IG Sreejith surfaced, social media attacks intensified against the child’s family, further traumatising them.

“This case was meant to be buried, but the prosecution and the final investigation team ensured the child got justice,” the public prosecutor said.

Judge Jalajarani has also directed the District Legal Services Authority to prepare an estimate for compensating the survivor.