Ponnani sexual assault case: FIR registered against 3 former police officers after court orders

Malappuram: The Ponnani police on Saturday registered three FIRs against three former police officers accused in a sexual assault case, complying with directions from the Kerala High Court and a magistrate court after years of legal proceedings.

The FIRs were registered against former Circle Inspector Vinod Valiyattoor, former DySP V.V. Benny and former SP Sujith Das in connection with a complaint filed by a woman from Ponnani, who alleged that she was sexually assaulted by the officers in January 2022 while seeking justice in another matter.

The registration of the FIRs came after the Kerala High Court strongly questioned the delay despite a magistrate court's order directing the police to register a case and conduct an investigation. The court observed that the mere filing of a petition before the High Court could not be cited as a reason for withholding the registration of an FIR.

The High Court also made it clear that the Station House Officer was duty-bound to implement the magistrate's order without delay.

Meanwhile, the FIRs contain an unusual feature. Instead of naming the accused officers, they identify them only by their former designations—former Circle Inspector, former DySP and former SP. The FIRs also mention the survivor's name and list the accused officers' official office addresses as their permanent addresses.

Meanwhile the police Inspector of Ponnani police told Onmanorama that the exclusion of names in copies of FIRs available online is only a technical error and the names were included in the FIR submitted before court.

The woman has alleged that she was sexually assaulted by the three officers in January 2022 after approaching senior police officials seeking justice. After her complaint failed to make progress, she approached the courts. Acting on the Supreme Court's direction, the Ponnani Magistrate Court ordered the registration of an FIR and an investigation.