Public opinion often diverts probe course: HC

Division Bench acquits two accused of rape and murder of tribal woman

Observing that when public opinion influences an investigation, its very course gets diverted with “exasperating results”, A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has acquitted two non-tribal persons who were arraigned as accused in the case relating to the rape and murder of a tribal woman following public protests. Acquitting the accused, Mani and Rajan from Agali in Palakkad, in the case registered in 2005, the Bench comprising Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice Ziyad Rahman A.A. observed that the tribal woman was murdered and the suspect was her confidant who was from the same community. “However, the community rose in arms against the implication of their own community member and the police removed him from the array of suspects and proceeded against the two other suspects from a different community with a higher caste status, alleging offences not only under the Indian Penal Code but also under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989,” the court observed.