Thiruvananthapuram: In a major relief to PJ Kurien and a setback for the Suryanelli gangrape survivor, a Session Court ruled on Saturday that the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman will not be made an accused in the nearly two decade-old case. The court rejected the survivor's plea based on prime accused Dharmarajan's affidavit stating he never took Kurien to the guest house, where the girl was lodged.
Dharmarajan, in the affidavit, had also said that an old TV interview, in which he claimed Kurien's involvement in the crime, was given under the influence of alcohol. A few days after his interview to a channel, Dharmarajan was arrested from Karnataka after absconding for several years by jumping bail.
Sessions Judge Abraham Mathew in his Saturday's order held that the survivor's plea for inclusion of Kurien in the sex scandal case was not maintainable. The girl, hailing from Suryanelli in Idukki district of Kerala, was abducted in January 1996 and was transported to various places in the state and sexually exploited by different persons.
The survivor had moved the court against Kurien based on the 'revelation' of the sole convict in the case Dharmarajan, who had claimed in an interview a few months back that he had taken Kurien in a car to a guest house at Kumily where the girl was lodged.
Dharmarajan had later retracted the claim in the court through an affidavit stating he had never met Kurien and he was in an inebriated state when he made the charge. The 1996 case came into focus recently after the Supreme Court invalidated the Kerala High Court's verdict acquitting 35 accused in the case.
(With Additional Inputs From PTI)
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