The tragedy of minor girls in Walayar and Nedumangad were held up by the Opposition in Kerala Assembly as examples of the LDF government's indifference towards the safety and security of women and children.
The issue of women and child safety was raised as an adjournment motion by Congress MLA Shanimol Usman on Wednesday. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, however, did not respond to any of Shanimol's specific posers and rejected the request for a discussion on the issue saying all the charges she had made were “old ones”. In protest, the Opposition staged a walkout.
The Nedumangad case related to the abuse of a minor by M R Yasodharan, head of the Sree Narayana International Study Centre. “This man who was arrested in the Nedumangad case was earlier caught in another POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) case,” Shanimol said. “The Supreme Court had barred sexual offenders from interacting with children. That being the case how could a person who was already implicated in a POCSO case be allowed to get close to children, that too as a teacher. Why did not the police monitor him,” Shanimol asked.
She said the apex court had also laid down that the states should draw up a database of child sexual offenders. This, too, has not been done, she said.
Sickle party's role
Shanimol termed the Walayar case, in which two minor girls of nine and 13 years old were found hanging inside their home within a span of 53 days, the first of its kind in the country.
“The Superintendent of Police (Shivam Vikram) himself has told the judicial commission that there were failures in the police investigation,” Shanimol said. “It was also said that leaders of the sickle party were involved. I would like to know why the highly respected feminist leaders on the ruling side were silent on the issue,” she said.
The chief minister merely said Yasodharan had been arrested and that the government had filed six appeals in the High Court against a lower court's exoneration of the accused in the Walayar case.
Police complicity
Later, while making his walkout speech, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said the chief minister had failed to respond to any of Shanimol's charges. He called for a CBI probe into the Walayar issue. “The SI has been suspended and it has now been revealed that officers, including the DySP, had been helping the accused,” Chennithala said.
The post-mortem report had established that both the children were subjected to violent unnatural sex multiple times. Yet, it was alleged that the police were too eager to pass the deaths off as suicide.
Girl witness goes missing
Muslim League leader M K Muneer said one of the witnesses, another 13-year-old child abuse victim, had gone missing. This minor witness, a friend of the elder girl who died in Walayar, was lodged in one of the Nirbhaya homes after she, too, was subjected to abuse. “During counselling, it is said that she had revealed some details about the Walayar abuse. After that, her mother had taken her out of the Nirbhaya home. Now, she is missing,” Muneer said.
Last year, Palakkad MLA Shafi Parambil, too, had spoken about the friend of the elder girl. According to him, the friend had told the police that the Walayar victim had ran away when one of the accused had appeared before them while the friends were together. Later, when the friends asked her why she was frightened, she had told them that the man regularly hurt her. Muneer said this friend, who was also a victim in another case, was now missing.
Muneer was also critical of the role of Palakkad Child Welfare Committee former chairman who he said had appeared for those accused in POCSO cases. Women and child welfare minister K K Shylaja responded to only this charge. She said the chairman was removed after it was known that he had appeared for POCSO accused. “He did not appear for the accused after he became chairman but ethics demanded that he be kept out,” Shylaja said.
The Opposition then asked why such ethics did not come into play when the person was first picked to be the CWC chairman.
Achuthanandan's absence
BJP MLA O Rajagopal said certain CPM leaders in Walayar were taking advantage of the absence of V S Achuthanandan. Walayar falls within Malampuzha, Achuthanandan's constituency. “Because of certain difficulties, Achuthanandan has not been able to visit the place. This has allowed certain unscrupulous CPM leaders to control things. I would request the chief minister to visit the place and straighten things out,” Rajagopal said.