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Achuthanandan may move
court in Suryanelli rape case

TRIVANDRUM — Leader of opposition in the Kerala Assembly V S Achuthanandan, who is leading a legal battle against Indian Union Muslim League leader and Industry Minister P K Kunhalikutty in the ice cream parlour sex case, is exploring the possibility of approaching the high court for a fresh probe against Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien in the Suryanelli gang rape case.

The veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader reportedly told family members of the victim while paying a visit to their house at Kottayam on Saturday. Leaders of the party women’s wing present during the visit said Achuthanandan told the victim’s father that he would consult legal experts in this connection. He has also offered support to the family in their legal battle against those who abused the girl.

The girl’s father Mani Markose, who is convalescing after an eye surgery, told reporters that Achuthanandan’s visit had brought much relief to the family, which was feeling ostracized after the incident 17 years ago.

“Achuthanandan is the only political leader to visit us. His visit now has made us happy,” Mani said adding that the senior CPM leader had not given any concrete assurance about intervening in the case.

Achuthanandan’s move is considered significant in the light of the Congress-led United Democratic Front government’s decision not to order a re-investigation into the alleged involvement of Kurien in the case. Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan had asked why the opposition was not moving the court if they were not satisfied with the legal opinion the government received against a fresh probe. Legal advice received by the government from the State Director General of Police, Law Secretary and a former judge who appeared for the government in the Supreme Court in the case said there were no legal and factual grounds for a fresh probe into the case investigated thrice and closed by both the high court and Supreme Court.

The 33-year-old woman, who was allegedly raped by 42 people over a period of 40 days after she was abducted by a bus conductor from her house at Suryanelli in Idukki district when she was 16, had insisted that Kurien was one of them and had asked her lawyers to explore the possibility of filing a fresh case against him.

A court at Peermade in Idukki district had found a prima facie case against Kurien in the private complaint she filed against Kurien after the police gave him a clean chit.

However, the high court and the Supreme Court turned down her plea accepting the police finding that Kurien was about 100 kms away at the time the girl said she was raped by him. The demand for a fresh probe strengthened after two witnesses and the lone convict in the case contested this. While the two witnesses said they had seen Kurien two hours before the time recorded by the police Advocate Dharmarajan, who jumped parole and went into hiding while serving imprisonment in the case, told a television channel from his hideout that he had taken Kurien to the girl at Kumily Guest House on February 19, 1996.

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