Walayar Rape-Death Case: Kerala High Court Dismisses Bail Pleas Moved By Three Accused, Asks Them To Approach Trial Court

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed the bail applications moved by the prime accused in the infamous Walayar case that had built up public outrage in the State

Noting that the final report had already been filed before the trial court, Justice P. Gopinath asked the applicants to approach the trail court with their bail applications since that would be the appropriate forum to consider the same. 

"Having regard to the fact that the final report has already been filed and the fact that the petitioner in one of the bail applications also faces allegations of having committed offences under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 I am of the view it is for the petitioners to approach the jurisdictional court for bail."

In the last hearing of the case, the Court had directed the CBI to furnish the stage of investigation and the approximate time required to submit the final report in the matter. The CBI had also raised suspicions regarding the manner of death of the siblings hinting that they might have been killed and merely disguised as a suicide. This was strongly refuted by the applicants and established in the negative by the medical records.

What is the Walayar Case?

The case involves the unnatural death of two minor Dalit sisters aged 13 years and 9 years on January 13 and March 4, 2017, respectively in Walayar district in Kerala.

The incident came to light after they were found hanging in their one-room house on the respective dates. Post mortem reports disclosed that they were subjected to rape before their deaths. As per the police, the girls took their lives out of intolerable pain and agony caused by the multiple instances of unnatural sex committed on them by the accused.

There were five accused in the case, namely, Madhu alias Valiya Madhu, Madhu M. alias Kutti Madhu, Shibu, Pradeep Kumar M and a minor aged 16 at the time of the offence. However, the fourth accused Pradeep Kumar allegedly died by suicide in November 2020.

Later on, in a move that infuriated the entire State, a special POCSO court acquitted three of the accused citing a weak case presented by the prosecution. This had sparked a storm of protests in the State with civil society organisations and Opposition parties decrying the police investigation and political interference in the case.

The case had also acquired sensational proportions as the police officers who investigated it initially had faced allegations of helping the accused. Therefore, the State moved the High Court with appeals seeking a re-investigation in the matter, and the Court set aside the acquittal of the accused, with liberty granted to the prosecution to seek further investigation in the case.

Thereafter, the High Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take up investigation into Walayar rape and death cases

Accordingly, in April 2021, the matter was taken up by the Thiruvanathapuram unit of CBI. The CBI thereby filed two separate FIRs in the matter after its probe under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act before a Special Court.

The FIRs also booked the accused under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. They were incarcerated soon. The third accused M. Madhu was granted bail by the High Court.

Later on, Valiya Madhu and Shibu had preferred bail applications before the Additional Sessions Court claiming that they were being incarcerated for more than three months, but they were rejected in June 2021.

Also Read: Supreme Court Dismisses NGO's Plea To Expunge Remarks Against DySP In Walayar Case

Case Title: Madhu Alias Valiya Madhu v. Central Bureau of Investigation

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Ker) 10 

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