In quest for justice, mother of slain girls to contest against Pinarayi Vijayan

A distraught mother of two girls, who were sexually assaulted and murdered, has decided to take her fight for justice to the home turf of Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. She has announced her intention to fight Vijayan at Dharmadom in the upcoming assembly elections.

Kannur (Kerala): An aggrieved mother of two girls — both sexually assaulted and murdered — announced her decision to take on chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Dharmadom, Kannur, in the upcoming Assembly elections.

Speaking to the media in her hometown, the mother said she will fight as an independent candidate. It is a symbolic fight for justice as she still awaiting justice for her two daughters.

"Many people have been asking me to do so and I decided to take up the challenge and will contest as an independent candidate against the Chief Minister. I want two errant police officials to be removed from service. But in the election, I will not seek the support of the Sangh Parivar forces," said the mother.

For the past few months, the mother has been staging a protest in front of the state's administrative centre in Kerala, demanding justice for her two daughters in front.

On October 31, 2020, Vijayan had promised justice to the mother. Now, her decision to contest against the Marxist heavyweight arises from her resentment against the state administration which she said has not kept its promises.

Nothing has happened and the police officer who probed the case was instead promoted," she said.

Meanwhile, state Congress president Mullapally Ramachandran said the party, in principle, has decided to support the mother in her fight for justice.

"We will have no qualms to offer her all our support and for that, we will take up this to be discussed with our allies," said Ramachandran, supporting the mother's decision to contest elections against the chief minister.

The case surfaced in January 2017, when an 11-year-old girl's body was found by her nine-year-old sister in her house near Walayar. Two months later, in similar circumstances, the younger girl child was found dead in her home. Though the police arrested five people under the charge of abetment of suicide and rape, the accused individuals were let off by a court in Palakkad district, citing a dearth of evidence.

On Monday, Vijayan filed his nomination papers from his home constituency, which he won in the 2016 assembly polls with a margin of over 30,000 votes.

(With inputs from IANS)