The State government has announced a judicial investigation into the unnatural death of two minor Dalit siblings at Walayar in Palakkad. Former District Judge and Kerala State Minorities Commission chairman P.K. Haneefa will head the probe.
The decision to institute a judicial inquiry into the death of the girls aged 13 and nine years of age was taken at a Cabinet meeting here on Thursday. The commission will examine whether there were any lapses in the course of the police inquiry or at the stage of prosecution.
As per the terms of reference, on detecting any lapse in inquiry or prosecution, the commission will have to submit recommendations for taking action against the officers. The commission will also have to recommend measures to be initiated to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in future.
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The death of the two girls had triggered a row and the police as well as the prosecution were put in the dock for acting in an arbitrary manner to save the accused.
The case had caused a major embarrassment to the government and was forced to take stringent action on the basis of the assurances Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had given to the parents of the girls when they called on him.
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Special Correspondent writes from Kochi: Meanwhile, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday admitted an appeal filed by the State government seeking to set aside the verdict of the Palakkad Special Court acquitting all the four accused in the case.
The Bench also issued notices to the accused on the appeal filed against the lower court verdict.
The government pleaded in the appeal that in the alternative, a further investigation and retrial of the case be ordered. The prosecution’s case is that the two minor girls had committed suicide because of repeated sexual harassment by the accused.