BJP leader gets lifer for sexual assault on minor girl in Kerala

 In a judgment that brings to a close one of Kannur’s most contentious child-sexual-assault cases, a POCSO Fast Track Special Court on Saturday sentenced leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and schoolteacher K Padmarajan to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting a class 4 student at Palathayi, Panoor, in early 2020.

Judge MT Jalaja Rani delivered the sentence a day after finding the 49-year-old former Thrippangottur panchayat president guilty of multiple offences under Section 376 AB of the IPC and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Along with the life term, the court imposed a fine of ₹100, 000 and awarded him an additional 40 years of rigorous imprisonment on various POCSO counts.

The verdict marks the culmination of nearly five years of investigations, allegations of sabotage, political disputes and multiple changes in the probe team.

For the survivor’s family, who repeatedly accused the police of shielding the accused because of his political links, the court’s ruling brought what the prosecution described as “a long-awaited sense of peace.”

According to the prosecution, Padmarajan, then a teacher at the Palathayi school, sexually assaulted the 10-year-old girl at least on three occasions between January and February 2020.

Each of the assaults allegedly took place inside the school bathroom, a location that investigators said he used to ensure he remained out of sight.

The child first disclosed the abuse to Childline counsellors on March17, 2020.

A complaint was subsequently filed by her mother, prompting the Panoor police to register a case the same day.

Padmarajan was arrested on April 15 from a hideout at Poyilur Vilakottur after evading police for nearly a month.

From the outset, the case became the centre of public outrage because of the way the initial investigation unfolded.

The first probe by the Panoor police concluded that the complaint was false, and the FIR listed dates on which the accused was actually on leave - discrepancies that counsellors later said had been supplied to them by police officers.

The early chargesheet omitted key POCSO sections, allowing the accused to secure bail on the 90th day. These developments triggered protests by the survivor’s family and local action committees, which accused the police of deliberately weakening the case.

Faced with mounting criticism, the crime branch took over the investigation following directions from the Kerala High Court.

But this phase too was fraught with controversy. Crime Branch IG S Sreejith drew public censure after revealing the child’s confidential statement, and an interim report filed by the CB DySP suggested that the child had lied - a submission the family saw as an attempt to exonerate the accused