The victim of the Suryanelli serial rape scandal of 1996, in which Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien is allegedly involved, on Friday withdrew her plea filed in the Kerala High Court for engaging Special Public Prosecutors for the case in the face of the Government’s stern refusal to allow it. She would now engage her own lawyer to assist the Director General of Prosecutions.
The Kerala Government, through an affidavit submitted as per the court’s instruction, had rejected the girl’s plea for Special Public Prosecutors to argue the case saying that it had full trust in the Director General of Prosecutions, T Asif Ali, who was presently dealing with the case. The plea was settled following the withdrawal of the request by the victim.
The victim had sought orders for engaging Suresh Babu Thomas and CS Ajayan, the lawyers who had argued the case originally in the trial court leading to the conviction of 36 accused, as Special Public Prosecutors as she had no faith in the DGP who had advised the Government that there was no need for a new probe against Kurien.
However, the Government said in the court that the victim could engage her lawyer to assist the Director General of Prosecutions in the case. It was in this context the girl, now aged 33, decided to withdraw her plea. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had earlier rejected her plea to engage Special Public Prosecutors.
The case pertains to the brutal serial rape of a 16-year-old girl from Suryanelli village of Idukki district by 42 men for 41 days. A special court in Kottayam had in September, 2000 sentenced 36 accused to imprisonment of varying terms but the High Court on January 20, 2005 acquitted 35 of them while commuting one’s life imprisonment for a five-year jail term.
However, the Supreme Court on January 31 last set aside this High Court verdict terming it as “shocking” and sent the case back to the High Court for reconsideration. The High Court is presently considering the appeals filed by 31 accused, convicted by the Special Court in 2000. They have already been granted bail.
The March 21 High Court order granting bail to the accused had evoked widespread criticisms against the way the Prosecution had handled the case. The victim’s father had described the order as a result of the failure on the part of the Prosecution while leftist women leaders alleged that the court order exposed the Congress-led State Government’s prejudice against the victim.