The apex court has set aside the order of the Kerala High Court acquitting all the 35 accused in the case except the prime accused, and sent back the case to the HC for its reconsideration. The HC has also been directed to give its verdict within six months.

What has deepened The Congress’s troubles is the reiteration by the Suryanelli rape victim that senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien was among the 42 persons who sexually exploited her – a charge she has been making ever since the sex scandal was uncovered in 1996. The girl has also written to her lawyer to explore the possibilities of filing a review petition before the SC which had exonerated Kurien in an earlier verdict.

Prof. Kurien has denied the charge and refused the demand for reinvestigation of the charge on the ground that he has been acquitted by both the Kerala HC and the Supreme Court. He has alleged a political conspiracy to destroy him - a plot in which he suspects the hand of a few Congress leaders as well.

But the rape victim and her parents are insisting on a reinvestigation of Kurien’s role in the light of the latest SC verdict. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has extended vigorous support to the demand.

Not surprisingly, the Suryanelli verdict has ratcheted up political tensions in the state with both the UDF Government and the LDF sticking to their stand: the Government has ruled out reinvestigation as ‘it is not legally possible’; and the LDF has declared its resolve not to allow the State Assembly – the budget session began yesterday – to function until its demand for reinvestigation of Kurien’s role in the sex scandal is conceded. In fact, the State Assembly witnessed uproarious scenes on the first day over the issue. The Speaker had to adjourn the house till Wednesday as agitated opposition members brought the proceedings to a halt angered by the ‘callous attitude’ of the government to the plight of the rape victim.

Meanwhile, the claim of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Tiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan that there is no scope for reinvestigation has been exposed as hollow with the rape victim getting legal advice from senior Supreme Court advocates that there are no hurdles to a reinvestigation of the case. The advice is that there is no need for her to move the SC; and that she could approach the Kerala High Court which has been told by the SC to consider the case afresh.

Whatever the climax of the current confrontation, one thing can be said with certainty: the Congress and the UDF Government have incurred the wrath of the people of Kerala with their unsympathetic approach on the issue. The decision is completely out of sync with the mood of the nation, which has been inflamed by the horrific gang rape of Nirbhaya in Delhi and her subsequent death.

If the NSS episode was a political disaster, the CM’s refusal to go for a reinvestigation in the Suryanelli case is a calamity, which will extract a heavy cost politically and electorally. The prevalent public perception is that both the Congress and the UDF Government have diminished themselves by their callous indifference to the plight of the rape victim in its eagerness to save Kurien. It was a golden opportunity for the government to enhance its standing and secure redemption for its ‘past sins’. Such a bold stand would have been in consonance with the sense of the nation and spirit of the times uplifted by the historic SC verdict in the Suryanelli sex scandal case, too. That was not to be. And that is nothing short of a national tragedy.

The Suryanelli sex scandal hit the headlines in 1996. The victim, a 16-year-old school girl from Suryanelli in Idukki district was abducted in January 1996 and taken to various parts of the state during which she was raped by 42 men for 40 days.

A special court in Kottayam had on September 2, 2000, convicted 35 persons while acquitting four others in the case. One person had died during the trial. However, on January 20, 2005 the High Court acquitted the 35 accused giving them the benefit of doubt.

The then Kerala Government moved the SC challenging the HC verdict in 2005. The apex court has, after the passage of eight years, set aside the HC verdict and sent it back for fresh consideration of the case and a fiat to give the verdict in six months. (IPA Service)