Kerala minor sisters' rape case: NCSC to summon state CS, DGP

The NCSC will be issuing summons to Kerala chief secretary and police chief in the Walayar minor girls' rape case, a senior official said on Thursday.

The case relates to the rape and suicide of two minor girls, aged 11 and nine, two years ago. The accused in the case were acquitted by a POCSO court in Palakkad on last Saturday.

National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) vice-chairman L Murugan told PTI that summons would be served to both the Kerala chief secretary and the director general of police in a day or two.

They will be asked to personally appear before the NCSC in Delhi and explain the action taken to pursue the case further and punish the culprits, he said.

The NCSC will monitor the progress of the case, he added.

Murugan said he had personally visited the victims' family, consoled them and assured them that they will get justice.

Delhi-based Dalit activist Vipin Krishnan met Murugan on Thursday and sought a CBI probe in the case as the "state police had miserably failed".

Krishnan, in a memorandum submitted to the NCSC on Monday, had alleged lapses in the initial probe in the case by the police.

The victims, who were sisters, belonged to Shelvapuram in Attapallam near Walayar in Palakkad district. They were found hanging in January and March 2017, respectively. Post-mortem reports suggested that they were sexually assaulted.

The case ignited mass protests by opposition parties and NGOs across Kerala.

The police arrested four people in the case and charged them with rape and abetment of suicide. One of the accused was acquitted in September this year, and the remaining three walked free on October 25.

The court, while acquitting the accused, had pulled up the investigating team saying it did not present enough scientific evidence in the case.