Prosecution to challenge 2008 suicide case acquittal of Ambalappuzha girls

ALAPPUZHA: The prosecution will challenge the acquittal of two accused in the 2008 suicide case of Ambalappuzha girls.

Sankarankutty Kallelil, the public prosecutor, said that they decided to challenge the order as the question of who raped them remained unanswered.

"The verdict has sent a wrong message to the society," he said. "It's a fit case for a better agency to reprobe. We had worked hard on pieces of evidence. But the court did not take it at face value."

During the trial, he said, the crime branch, as well as forensic surgeon, had stated in favour of the prosecution and there was strong circumstantial evidence.
The investigation officer had also stood by the report they had submitted. Officials from Vodafone and BSNL also deposed. Two witnesses testified that they had seen the girls and accused on the beach.

"Their tower location led to the Collectorate. But at the end of the day nobody knows who did it," he said.            

The Additional District and Session Court Alappuzha acquitted Shanavas, 20, and Soufar, 20, on Thursday, saying one of the girls had fallen in love with one of the accused.

The suicide note also said she had intense love with him and she wanted to become his wife in the next life. But the court did not consider it as a proof, saying that had nothing to prove their guilt.

Crime Branch DySP Rajgopal who investigated the case had retired during the trial. Though DC tried to contact him, he was unavailable.   

It was on November 17, 2008, Julie Varghese, 17, Anila Babu, 17, and Veni alias Manju alias Vava, 17, students of Ambalappuzha Government VHSS, drank a pesticide in a suicide pact.The investigators recovered around ten suicide notes from their classroom and six from their homes.

Correction: It was the Alappuzha sessions court which acquitted the accused in the case, not the Kollam sessions court  as reported in these columns yesterday.