Vandiperiyar rape and murder: Mother of minor victim moves Kerala High Court seeking fresh probe by SIT

A plea has been filed before the Kerala High Court seeking a re-investigation of the Vandiperiyar rape and murder case, in which a girl who was around 5-6 years old was raped and murdered in Vandiperiyar, Idukki..The corpse of the child was initially found hanging in a room inside her house in June 2021, while the parents were out at work at a nearby plantation. A case for unnatural death was initially registered. However, an autopsy revealed that the child had been raped before she was hanged. The 24-year-old man who was the sole accused in the case was acquitted by a special court hearing cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) in December 2023. The special court concluded that the prosecution was unable to prove their case. An appeal by the Kerala government challenging the acquittal is pending before the High Court. The mother of the victim has now called for a reinvestigation of the case by a special investigation team, on concerns that the Kerala police had conducted a "planned" investigation to save the real culprits from the law..The mother's petition stated that it was due to the faulty, biased and defective investigation of the police that the trial court decided to acquit the sole accused for insufficient evidence.In this regard, the mother's petition submitted that the investigating officer neglected to gather fingerprints or medical evidence from the crime scene. The plea also alleged that items collected from the scene were left unsealed and unpacked and that they were submitted to the trial court after significant delays.Therefore, the plea has called for a fair and impartial re-investigation by a special investigation team.“A fair, honest, impartial, efficient and independent re-investigation is necessary in this matter,” contended the petitioner.She added that the deceased minor girl belonged to a marginalized community and that her family deserves a fair trial and investigation into the death of their daughter..The petitioner (victim child's mother) was represented by advocates PV Jeevesh and CK Radhakrishnan.