Suryanelli gangrape case: SC dismisses plea

The Supreme Court today dismissed a plea seeking probe into the alleged role of Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P J Kurien in the Suryanelli gangrape case of 1996 in which a 16-year-old girl was sexually assaulted for over 40 days.

The apex court questioned the locus standi of journalist T P Nandakumar, who had filed the petition in this regard.

"You don't have any locus. Everybody wants to help us unnecessarily. Who are you? If the victim prefers to come here, we will hear her," a bench of justices B S Chauhan and S A Bobde said.

The Kerala High Court on October 23 had dismissed a plea filed by the victim seeking further probe against Kurien.

The apex court on January 31 had set aside the high court's order acquitting 35 accused in the case and sent the case back to the high court for taking a fresh look at it.

The court had passed the order on an appeal filed by the State of Kerala challenging the acquittal of the accused in the case.

The Kerala High Court had acquitted 35 people who were convicted by a special court in September 2000.

The high court had found only one person guilty of crime related to the sex trade and had sentenced him to five years in jail and a fine of Rs 50,000.

The girl from Suryanelli in Idukki district of Kerala was abducted in January 1996 and was transported from place to place across the state.