Suryanelli victim files complaint against Kurien

By Ashraf Padanna/Thiruvananthapuram In a dramatic turn of events, the victim in the Suryanelli abduction and multiple rape scandal has filed a complaint in the local police station claiming she had been raped by Rajya Sabha deputy chairman professor P J Kurien on February 19, 1996, at Kumily. The woman, who was abducted and raped by 42 men during 41 days of her captivity when she was just 16 years old, came to the Chingavanam police station with her parents and a lawyer to file the complaint yesterday evening. Police sources said no case would be registered based on the complaint since the case was in court and it would amount to contempt of court. If the police fail to register a case and start investigation, the victim would approach the court seeking a direction to the police, which could provide a chance to reopen the litigation closed by the upper courts earlier, the lawyer pointed out. Though Kurien has never faced trial, the Suryanelli case victim has consistently been insisting that the former federal minister was among her tormentors. However, the police have rejected her claim citing alibi evidence. On January 31, the Supreme Court overturned the 2005 high court verdict, acquitting all but one, and ordered a retrial. Fourteen of the accused in the case had this week appeared in the court and obtained bail. The opposition parties have stepped up their campaign to arraign Kurien in the case. Those close to the victim hope to reopen the case against Kurien, who obtained a favourable verdict from the court against his trial, as the right starting point for a legal battle in view of the recent claims by some of the prosecution witnesses and the kingpin in the case. The victim had filed a private complaint at the First Class Judicial Magistrate Court, Peerumade, on March 15, 1999, seeking prosecution of Kurien, following which the court summoned the former federal minister who in turn moved the high court and the Supreme Court.