Kerala court orders CBI to carry out further probe in 2017 Walayar girls' sexual assault case

A Kerala court on Wednesday ordered the CBI to carry out further investigation into the alleged sexual assault and subsequent death of two girls in Walayar area of Palakkad district in the state in 2017 and file a report.

The girls, who were siblings, were found dead under mysterious circumstance in their hut within a span of nearly two months in 2017 after their alleged sexual assault.

The sessions court listed the matter for further hearing on August 24.

Their mother, speaking to reporters, said she was happy with the court order as it found that CBI's chargesheet in the case was wrong.

She said she wants a new team of CBI officials to probe the case and prove that her daughters were murdered and that they had not died by suicide as claimed by the agency and the police earlier.

Her lawyer, advocate Rajesh Menon, said that his client's contention was that the central agency took the same stand as that of the police.

The eldest of the siblings, aged 13, was found hanging inside their hut on January 13, 2017 and her nine-year old sister had died on March 4, 2017 in the same manner.

Though the mother had alleged that it was a case of murder, Walayar police came to the conclusion that the girls were sexually abused in an unnatural way by five persons including a juvenile for nearly one year till they were forced to die by suicide by the accused by trespassing into their dwelling.

Allowing appeals filed by the state government and the mother of the children, the high court had ordered a retrial in the case in January 2021, observing that there were ''serious lapses'' in the investigation and that there has been ''miscarriage of justice''.

The court had also set aside an October 2019 order of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court acquitting the five accused for want of evidence.

A public outcry and protests had erupted in the state after the acquittal of the accused, seeking justice to the family of the girls.

The LDF government had handed over to the CBI the probe into the death of the two sisters shortly after the Kerala High Court ordered a retrial in the sensational case.

However, a chargesheet, submitted by the CBI before the POCSO court here in December 2021, also said that the girls had died by suicide after they were sexually molested.