No decision taken on recording complaint against Kurien: Govt

Kerala Government on Tuesday informed the High Court that it had not yet taken a final decision on whether or not to register the complaint filed by the Suryanelli rape victim against Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien seeking to make him an accused in the case.

Director General of Prosecutions T. Asaf Ali submitted that even though police had received the complaint from the victim, a final decision had not been taken on whether or not to register the same.

The fresh complaint was lodged at Chingavanam Police Station in Kottayam stating that Mr. Kurien should be made an accused in the light of ‘revelations’ by another accused, Dharmarajan, that it was he who had taken the Congress leader to the Kumily rest house on February 19, 1996 when the girl was allegedly raped by several persons.

The victim had also wanted that Dharmarajan, Unnikrishnan and Jamal be also arraigned as accused in the new case. Police had accepted the complaint, but refused to register the same.

The government’s submission was made when the court was hearing a petition by the Kerala Mahila Sangam, seeking a direction to the state and DGP to conduct an investigation against Mr. Kurien in the light of the victim’s allegation against him.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and justice Vinod Chandran, before whom the petition by Kamala Sadanandan, General secretary of the Sangam, came up, directed the DGP to give the state’s views on the maintainability of the petition.

The bench also sought the views of the petitioner and the state government on whether an organisation can seek such a relief.

The petitioner also sought to call for the records relating to the investigation, into the role of Mr. Kurien, if any, conducted by Sibi Mathews, who headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which probed the case.

Mr. Kurien is facing calls for his resignation from the Rajya Sabha post after the rape victim recently wrote to her lawyer seeking to explore possibility of reopening the investigation against the Congress leader. However, he has maintained that he had been cleared of charges by Supreme Court.