Kerala HC to conduct fresh hearing in to Suryanelli gangrape

A fresh hearing in the 1996 Suryanelli rape case is to begin today in the Kerala High Court. A new bench, comprising Justices KT Shankaran and ML Joseph Francis will begin hearing the bail pleas filed by nine of the accused. Earlier, the special bench, constituted to hear cases relating to crimes against women, was to hear the case. Justice TR Ramachandran Nair, who was heading the bench, had recused himself from the case as he had appeared for one of the accused. [caption id=“attachment_638153” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PTI[/caption] Following this a new bench was created. The Supreme Court had recently stayed the 2005 High Court judgement acquitting 35 accused and reducing the life sentence of the third accused, Dharmarajan, to five years in the case. The sessions court had sentenced the 35 accused to various terms of imprisonment, which was challenged by them in the High Court. Dharmarajan, who was absconding and had been arrested recently from Sagar in Karnataka, has been sent to Poojapura jail to undergo the rest of his sentence. The case relates to the rape of a 16-year-old girl of Suriyanelli in Idukki district in 1996. The victim, a school girl, was allegedly abducted and taken to various places and sexually exploited by different persons. The victim had yesterday filed a police complaint against Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien, listing him as an accused in the case along with three others in the light of revelations by Dharmarajan to a television channel that he had accompanied Kurien to the Kumily rest-house on 19 February, 1996. PTI