Suryanelli rape: Protests intensify in Kerala against Kurien

A massive protest is presently on outside the Kerala State Assembly here against Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien over his alleged involvement in the 1996 Suryanelli rape case.

The angry protestors, who are firm on their demands for Kurien's resignation, have demanded a reinvestigation into the entire case. The protestors also burnt Kurien's effigy outside the Kerala Assembly to vent their ire over the entire incident.

Scores of police personnel, who have been deployed outside the Kerala assembly here to avoid any untoward incident, used water canons to disperse the angry protestors.

Demanding a reinvestigation into the 1996 Suryanelli rape case in view of a charge levelled against Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien by the victim, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) leader Brinda Karat had earlier on Wednesday said the former should step down from his post, and demanded that there must be a reinvestigation since there is fresh evidence in the case.

"And, while the reinvestigation is going on, I think that Professor Kurien should step down from his post. He should resign from his post. And I appeal to all the women MPs to look at this case not through a party lens, but through the issue of a dignity of a woman. The Rajya Sabha is going to discuss the ordinance against sexual assault. Can you have in the chair a person who has been accused for the last 17 years by a victim? So, let there be a reinvestigation into the case," she told media in New Delhi.

Karat said the victim has from the beginning recognised one of the persons as being Professor Kurien.

"Now, there is no political axe for that girl to have ever used his name unless she was absolutely convinced that he was. And she has spoken to me and I am absolutely convinced that a re-investigating is required. Professor Kurien is now claiming that he has been exonerated by all the courts; that is actually misleading this country because the three witnesses who said that they had seen him in that vicinity were never questioned by anybody. And Professor Kurien came straight to the Supreme Court to quash it and the Supreme Court why they did it, we don''t know," said Karat.

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