Kerala govt under attack on woman''s murder, cops say probe on track

Perumbavoor (Kerala), May 4

Investigations to trace the killer of a young dalit woman who was brutally murdered in Ernakulam district apparently after being raped is on the right track, the Kerala Police said on Wednesday.

#WATCH Left Democratic Youth Federation activist protest outside Deputy SP office over law student rape case, Keralahttps://t.co/zoHzfJf57P

— ANI (@ANI_news) May 4, 2016

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy announced that the state government has decided to give compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family of the Dalit law student.

Chandy took to the micro blogging site Twitter to make the announcement.

Earlier, asserting that 'swift' action would be taken against the perpetrators of the brutal rape Chandy, who met the family members of the victim today, said his government would do the 'necessary' towards the demands of the victim's family, who have asked for a job for the victim's sister.

Jisha (29) was found murdered on April 28 at her home near a canal here by her labourer mother. Her body was found badly mutilated. There were injuries on her private parts, according to police.

"We are unable to give details of what we are doing and what's happening on the probe, but can say that it's going on the right track," Additional Director General of Police K. Padmakumar told reporters here.

(Another Dalit nursing student gangraped in Kerala’s Varkala)

The crime is being compared with the rape-cum-murder of Nirbhaya in the national ccapital that shook the country in December 2012.

On Wednesday morning, Leader of opposition VS Achuthanandan reached the hospital where Jisha's mother is undergoing treatment.

"All this will happen in a state when the Oommen Chandy government is going on. It is going to be a week now and no one has been arrested," he said.

The first to arrive here in the morning was the chief minister. But he was greeted with the Left opposition student and youth activists' sloganeering against his government.

The Youth Congress activists were also present in equal numbers, giving the chief minister a close company.

"Police are doing their job and very soon the accused would be booked."  As media was pestering Chandy with more questions, a scuffle broke out between the Youth Congress activists and the media.

State BJP spokesperson AN Radhakrishnan said when valid questions were being asked by the media to the chief minister, the Congress activists were taking the media to task.

Meanwhile, a neighbour of the victim was last night picked up from Kannur. He was brought here and police questioning is underway.

Police are questioning eight people and using scientific methods to verify their statements.

With the assembly polls just 12 days away, the case has now attained significance with the blame game beginning.

With assembly elections slated for May 16 and the media taking up the case in a big way, this has now become the most talked about incident not just in Kerala but outside the state as well.

The Left opposition and the Bharatiya Janata Party are going hammer and tongs against the callous way the police handled the case.

While the Congress workers say it's the CPI (M) that has not done anything to lift this poor family, which they could have easily done as the legislator, Lok Sabha MP and the local ward councillor are all from the CPI (M), they should have ensured that the basic needs of the family were attended to.

The CPI (M) blames the ineffective way the police is handling the case and it was only after the media and the social media took this case up, did the police get down to their job.

Anger is also brewing as a post-graduate medical student did the autopsy.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Government has sanctioned compensation of Rs.10 lakh to Jisha's mother, Chandy told reporters.

Parliament outraged

The case also found its way to Parliament, where the BJP and the Left criticised the Kerala Government.

BJP's Meenakshi Lekhi raised the issue in the Lok Sabha.

Cutting across party lines, Lok Sabha members on Wednesday denounced the rape and murder of a poor Dalit law student in Kerala.

Nominated member Richard Hay said it looked as if Kerala was losing its earlier glory.

"Does it (Kerala) deserve the description 'God's own country'? It has become a devil's country," Hay lamented while raising the issue.

He and other members raised the issue of Jisha, 27, who was murdered on April 28 in Perumbavoor in Ernakulam. Her body was found badly mutilated.

The brutality has led to comparisons with the 2012 gang-rape in Delhi that shook the nation.

Lekhi said the young woman's death "was a sad reminder of the Nirbhaya case". She wanted to know why no arrest had been been made.

Days after this incident, another young student was allegedly gang-raped and dumped at Varkala near Thiruvananthapuram, she said.

Admitting that the incident in Kerala was serious, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said "such incidents should not be made into a political issue".

Naidu said he will share the concern of the Lok Sabha members with Home Minister Rajnath Singh and request him to seek a report on the matter.

In the Rajya Sabha, CPI (M) CP Narayanan raised the issue, terming it as a "dastardly attack" similar to that of the Nirbhaya incident in Delhi.

He drew the House's attention that similar rape incidents occurred in Kasargod last week and in Thiruvananthapuram yesterday adding "it is a black mark. Police is not very active in apprehending the culprits."

Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien said: "It is a very, very heinous crime. Most shameful for every Keralite".  

Several members associated themselves with the issue and demanded strict action against the culprits, with Tarun Vijay of BJP demanding that a team should visit the state.

Social Justice Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot said he would visit the state on Thursday.

"I will go to Kerala tomorrow and meet the family of the girl. I will help them in getting justice," he added.

Vijay, who had raised the issue as soon as the House met, said it was a repeat of the Nirbhaya case and the Kerala Government had “failed completely” in controlling such incidences.

"God's own country" should not turn into a rapist country, he added.

D Raja (CPI) drew attention of the government towards the atrocities committed against Dalits across the country, adding that legislations have proved to be of no help.

SC Mishra of the BSP said that atrocities were occurred across India.

"The House is concerned. Stringent action should be taken and exemplary punishment given. Do everything possible so that such incidents do not happen," Kurien said.

Parliamentary Affairs Ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi called the incident of rape and murder “inhuman”. — Agencies