The 17-year long fight for justice by the victim of the Suryanelli gang rape case now stands at an important turning point. The horrendous incident of gang rape, in which a 16-year old schoolgirl from Suryanelli in Idukki district, Kerala, was duped by a friend, held captive, taken to several places and raped by several men over 42 days, had occurred in January-February 1996. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government of the day did not prosecute the case seriously because P J Kurien, a prominent Congress leader, was one of those named by the victim as the rapists.
When the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government assumed power in May 1996, it constituted a special court, the first of its kind, to try the case. In 2000, this trial court sentenced 35 of the accused to punishment. However, the UDF came to power in 2001 and in 2005, the High Court not only acquitted all but one of them, but also passed very objectionable comments about the victim and insisted that she had participated in consensual sex “because she was 3 months over the age of 16”.
Finally on 31 January 2013, the Supreme Court quashed the High Court order, saying it found the grounds on which the HC acquitted the accused shocking. The bail of the accused has been cancelled and the case has been referred back to the High Court for fresh hearing within 6 months.
P J Kurien, who is now a Congress MP and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, had been let off in the case on the grounds that the accused in the case had been acquitted. In other words, he got the benefit of the flawed 2005 judgement of the High Court when his petition not to be included as one of the accused was accepted by the High Court and Supreme Court in 2007. In the light of recent developments, the left democratic forces and women’s organisations have been demanding that the case be reinvestigated and that Kurien must step down from the post of Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. It would be most inappropriate and shameful if P J Kurien chairs Rajya Sabha sessions when the Parliament is all set to discuss legislation based on the J S Verma Committee report which has proposed wide ranging reforms in various fields to combat sexual violence against women.
SFI calls upon students and democratic sections of society to join a protest demonstration at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on 21 February 2013, 11 am, demanding the resignation of P J Kurien from the post of Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the implementation of the J S Verma Committee recommendations without dilution.
