A girl ,Suryanelli in Kerala was raped by Forty two Men for Forty days in 16.
She was 16.
Two Senior Congress leaders were involved and they were acquitted.
“KOCHI, MAY 8: The Peermedu Judicial First Class Magistrate Court yesterday found Congress leader and former Union minister P J Kurien prima facie guilty in the Suryanelli sex scandal case. Judicial first class magistrate G Girish, while giving his verdict after the hearing on a private complaint lodged by the victim of the scandal, said Kurien could be implicated in the case.
The court has asked Kurien to appear before it on June 7 next. Kurien, who represented Mavelikkara constituency in Kerala in the dissolved 12th Lok Sabha, was the Chief Whip of the Congress.
In her complaint, the girl from Suryanelli had alleged that Kurien had sexually harassed her at the Kumily panchayat rest house on February 19, 1996. Though she did not recognise him then, later she identified him from a photograph published in the Mathrubhumi on March 26, 1996.”
More than the conviction rate in rape cases it is the Political pressure that embolden rapists.
Irony of this case is instead of the rapists being ostracized,it is the victim’s family that has been ostracized!
The main culprits are still active in Kerala.
The case .
Amid widespread demand for speedy proceedings in rape cases, the Supreme Court (SC) today decided to hear urgently an appeal against the acquittal of accused in the 17-year-old Suryanelli rape case in which a woman from Kerala was allegedly raped by 42 men for 40 days.
With the appeal pending at apex court itself for eight years, a bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir assured that hearings would begin on it within three weeks.
The bench gave the assurance after it was brought to its notice during mentioning period that the appeal against the acquittal of accused in the case is pending in the apex court for last eight years.
The Suryanelli rape case involves gangrape of a 16-year-old girl continuously for 40 days by 42 men in 1996.
The girl from Suryanelli in Idukki district of Kerala was abducted in January 1996 and was transported from place to place across Kerala.
On September 6, 2000, the special court had sentenced 35 persons to rigorous imprisonment for varying terms.
The Kerala High Court, however, acquitted all 35 convicts earlier and found only one of them person guilty of crimes related to the sex trade and sentenced him to five years jail term and a fine of Rs 50,000.
Later her family and the state moved the Supreme Court in 2005 against the high court’s verdict.
Background.
Suryanelli Incident occurred on January 16, 1996, when the victim, an 8th standard student in Nallathanni, was abducted by bus conductor Raju. She was subsequently kept in illegal custody in places like Kottayam, Ernakulam, Kumali, Palakkad, Vanimel, Kambam, Theni, Kanyakumari, Thiruvananthapuram, Kuravilangad, Aluva and Muvattupuzha, and subjected to sexual harassment up to February 16. The girl was set free in Idukki after 42 days in custody.
The name of former Union minister and Congress (I) leader Prof P.J. Kurian did not not figure in the chargesheet, though the girl had recognized his picture in a copy of Mathrubhumi newspaper. In May 1999, the Peerumade first class judicial magistrate court had issued a direction to file a chargesheet against Prof Kurian on the basis of a private complaint filed by the victim, but using influence at the Centre, Kurian managed to get an injunction from the Supreme Court against this indictment. Congress leaders in the state including “Mr Clean” Antony took a covering-up stand in the case.
Congress-CPM Role in the Rape Scandal
While several of the convicted including Jacob Stpehen are active Congress leaders in Kottayam. Union Minister PJ Kurian escaped indictment only because of his influence and the backboneless attitude of the CPM! Marxists who came to power using this case, took a back seat in catching the Congress leader (Most likely CPM leaders would have taken a big purse from the Congress counterparts for not following up the case politically!)
Here is the whole story (with links) of Congress Minister PJ Kurians involvment in the Rape.
35 found guilty in Kottayam sex scandal: PTI
A special court at Kottayam has found 35 accused, including three women, guilty, while acquitting four others in the sensational Suryanelli sex scandal case.
Convicting them under Indian Penal Code sections 365 (kidnapping with intent to confine someone), 376 g (gang rape) and 120-B (conspiracy), special judge M Sasidharan Nambiar remanded the accused to custody till September 6, when the judgement will be delivered.
The women convicted are Vilasini, Mary and Usha, while Jacob Mathew, Joshi Mathew, Ajay Kumar and Mathew have been acquitted.
The incident leading to the crime occurred on January 16, 1996.
The girl was subjected to sexual harassment up to February 16 and set free in Idukki after 42 days.
http://www.geocities.ws/keralaforum/suryanelli-kurian1.htm
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