Kochi: The parents of the minor girls in the Walayar rape case have filed a petition in the Kerala High Court seeking to quash the chargesheet submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has named them as accused.

The case came up before Justice C Jayachandran, with Senior Advocate Dr K P Satheesan appearing for the CBI. The investigative agency recently completed its reinvestigation and filed a chargesheet implicating the victims’ parents along with others.

According to the petition, the chargesheet alleges that the petitioners facilitated the primary accused in committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault on the victim. It further claims that they destroyed crucial evidence, including the child’s dress and school bag, three days after her death.

Additionally, it states that the parents allowed one of the accused to stay in their home, subjecting the child to mental and physical distress. The chargesheet also accuses them of failing to protect their daughters, thereby enabling the crime.

The petitioners have been charged under multiple provisions, including Section 16, 17 (abetment) of the POCSO Act, IPC Sections 109 (abetment) r/w Section 376(2)(f)(i)(n) (rape), 377 (unnatural offences), 201 (causing disappearance of the offence) and Section 75 (punishment for cruelty to child) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. The petitioners contend that the investigation was conducted with "extraneous considerations" and was aimed at shielding the real perpetrators.

In their plea, the parents acknowledged that one of the accused, Madhu alias Valiya Madhu, was a close relative and that there had been isolated incidents involving him. However, they asserted that they did not conceal any information during the investigation, and such instances cannot be interpreted as abetment to the crime.

The petition states that when the mother of the victims learned about the accused’s actions, she warned him against returning to their residence. However, she refrained from reporting the matter to the police at the time, considering the child’s age.

The parents also highlighted that the High Court, in an earlier appeal, had observed that the victims' family belonged to a socially and economically disadvantaged background, which influenced their perception of the situation.

The petitioners argued that they had been actively pursuing justice from the beginning, initiating legal proceedings in multiple courts and organising protests to identify the actual culprits.

They also challenged the CBI’s conclusion that the victims’ deaths were suicides, asserting that this finding disregards scientific evidence. Seeking further scrutiny, they urged the High Court to direct an additional investigation into possible homicide angles in the case.
(With LiveLaw Inputs)