Court Orders Further Investigation Into the Alleged Rape of a 10 Year Old Child by Local BJP Leader

Recently, in an infamous rape case which shook the political sphere of Kerala, the Court ordered the Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Team (CB-CID) to further investigate the charges against the accused Kuniyil Padmarajan after a petition was filed by the mother of the victim and public prosecutor PP Saseendran under Section 173(8) of Cr.P.C. claiming that the investigation by CB-CID and the final report filed by it under Section 173(2) were ridden with several latches.
The accused, a school teacher and a local leader of BJP, is alleged to have sexually abused one of his students studying in fourth standard of a school at Palathayiyi, multiple times in the months of January and February, 2020. He is also alleged to have threatened to kill her for revealing the incident to anyone. The incident came into light in March when it was reported to the ChildLine authorities and subsequently a complaint was lodged with the police on March 18, 2020. The police had recorded the statement of the 10-year-old victim girl in presence of her mother which had alleged sexual assault including rape by the accused. A subsequent medical examination of the victim also confirmed that she was sexually abused. The girl reportedly also gave a statement regarding the offence to a magistrate.