Probe into Kerala rape case being influenced: Maneka

Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Sanjay Gandhi on Tuesday accused the Kerala Police of “deliberately” avoiding the due process of investigation in the April 28 brutal rape and murder of the Dalit woman in Ernakulum district.

“We sent a National Commission for Women (NCW) team to the state the day the news broke (on May 4). The girl, who belonged to the Scheduled Caste (SC) category was from a very poor family. She lived with her sister and mother in a hut. This instance is not unique to Kerala, but can be found in other states too. A family, which has only women members, often face a lot of problems even from their neighbours, than men,” the minister said.

She added that the NCW report states that “even after the victim had complained to the police about a neighbour, who threatened her with rape, the police did not care to act. It considered it as a case of eve-teasing instead”. 

“The family also lodged a police complaint against a brother-in-law of the local sarpanch, who belongs to the (ruling) Left Front,” the minister read out from the report.

 

She added: “He is obviously politically influential, so even now he has not been picked up by the police.” 

As per the report, “The victim’s mother had told about these police complaints to the NCW team, which was corroborated by her sister in a separate meeting.” 

The report also talked of the crime spot “deliberately compromised” by the police by “not sealing it for nearly 10 days after the incident (till May 8)”. 

It added that a group of post-graduate doctoral students visited the crime spot and conducted the victim’s post-mortem examination. “No RDO (Revenue Divisional Officer) was present at the site of enquiry as mandated by the CRPC. Besides, the autopsy process was not videographed,” the minister added. Moreover, sniffer dogs were brought to the site only after a week.

“They were told they were going to be raped and murdered and the police never took an action,” Gandhi read out the from report. 

“That the chief investigating officer Anil Kumar was suddenly removed from the post raises suspicion. The new investigating officer (AB Jijimon) did not appear before the fact-finding team. The reason given was that elections are on in the state,” she said.

The minister added that the NCW team that went to Kerala to look into the case has said that the police are functioning under “undue influence” and there is a likelihood that investigation may not be fair due to “electoral considerations”. 

The report added that the committee had also raised its concern over the probe with the Chief Election Commissioner in a letter dated May 9, 2016. The letter, raising concern over the “state of law and order situation in Kerala during the crucial election period”, has also been sent to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the committee said.

The NCW team further said that when it visited the crime spot, it was contaminated and the post-mortem and forensic test of other evidences had also not been done properly. 

“Ignoring the seriousness of this heinous incidence of violence against the most vulnerable section of society, i.e. Dalit women would not only be detrimental to the current law and order situation in the state, but may have an adverse consequence on the safety of such vulnerable section,” the report said.