By Ashraf Padanna/Thiruvanathapuram
A senior Supreme Court lawyer and a former judge of Kerala High Court received widespread condemnation yesterday after he was heard saying the Suryanelli victim was a ‘child prostitute’.
R Basant was one of the two judges of a high court bench which set free all but one of the 35 people convicted by a lower court in the Suryanelli sex scandal, involving the abduction and rape of a minor girl for 45 days.
The other judge was K A Abdul Gafoor who died last year.
Basant, who too retired last year, has been practicing at the Supreme Court and is a member of the state’s panel of lawyers.
In a sting operation by a woman journalist of a local television channel, Basant was seen saying that “there was ample evidence to show the girl was used for child prostitution, which is not rape.”
He also criticised the Supreme Court, which quashed the high court judgment and ordered a retrial last week.
Later, Basant, speaking at a function near Kannur, said: “It was a private conversation and no permission was given to record it. This is unethical journalism.”
A section of the audience, however, reacted sharply to his comments and walked out of the venue while the activists of the youth wings of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Bharatiya Janata Party started raising slogans against him.
They also burnt an effigy of the former judge in front of the Kerala state secretariat.
On the acquittal of the accused, the retired judge was shown on the video clip asking the reporter to read the judgment.
Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan said the former judge should be condemned.
“Ten smart girls should get together and slap Basant for his derogatory remarks,” Achuthanandan said.
The victim’s father too condemned the retired judge.
The victim has repeatedly alleged that P J Kurien, who is now the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman, was one her tormentors.
But police and courts have cleared Kurien of the charge.
The victim last week wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi seeking action against Kurien who maintains he was cleared of the charges by the Supreme Court.
Basant: under fire