Kerala BJP leader gets life-till-death sentence in Palathayi POCSO case
Kannur: A POCSO Special Court in Thalassery on Friday sentenced BJP leader and schoolteacher K. Padmarajan, also known as Pappan Master, to life imprisonment until his natural death for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old Muslim student in 2020.
The verdict came a day after the court convicted Padmarajan in the Palathayi child sexual abuse case. In addition to the life-till-death sentence, the court imposed two separate 20-year rigorous imprisonment terms under aggravated penetrative sexual assault provisions of the POCSO Act. He was fined a total of ₹2 lakh, with an additional year of imprisonment if the amount is not paid.
Padmarajan, a 49-year-old former BJP panchayat president and district leader of a Sangh-affiliated teachers’ organisation, had been working as a teacher at the school where the survivor studied. The investigation revealed that the assault took place multiple times, including inside the school toilet and at a private residence.
The case first surfaced in March 2020 after Childline alerted the Thalassery police. A formal complaint followed on March 18, and Padmarajan was arrested nearly a month later.
The initial probe by Kannur police booked him under IPC Section 376 and POCSO Sections 5 and 6. However, the case later faced major interference, with senior police officers accused of attempting to weaken it by focusing on minor inconsistencies in the child’s statement. At one point, POCSO charges were dropped entirely, and the Crime Branch filed a diluted chargesheet under lesser IPC and Juvenile Justice Act provisions, sparking statewide protests.
Public outrage intensified, and the survivor’s mother approached the Kerala High Court expressing concern about political influence on the investigation. The turning point came when a new investigating officer conducted a detailed scientific inquiry and restored the POCSO charges after evidence, including blood traces from the school restroom, was recovered.
The prosecution argued that the nature of the crime demanded the harshest punishment, stressing the severity of the child’s trauma and the violation of trust by a teacher. The court rejected the defence claim that the case was fabricated and refused leniency, stating that the cruelty inflicted by a person in a guardian-like role warranted exemplary punishment.
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Odisha: Normalcy returns to violence-hit Malkangiri; internet services fully restored
Malkangiri (PTI): Normalcy returned to Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Monday, nearly a week after around 200 villages were damaged in violent clashes in a village, with the district administration fully restoring internet services, a senior official said.
Additional District Magistrate Bedabar Pradhan said internet services, suspended across the district on December 8 to curb the spread of rumours and misinformation following the clashes, were restored after the situation improved.
The suspension had been extended in phases till 12 noon on Monday.
The administration also withdrew prohibitory orders imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita within a 10-km radius of MV-26 village, where arson incidents were reported on December 7 and December 8.
Though the violence was confined to two villages, tension had gripped the entire district, as the incident took the form of a clash between local tribals and Bengali settlers following the recovery of a headless body of a woman on December 4, officials said.
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The violence broke out after residents of Rakhelguda village allegedly set ablaze several houses belonging to Bengali residents, forcing hundreds to flee. The headless body of Lake Podiami (51), a woman from the Koya tribe, was recovered from the banks of the Poteru river on December 4, while her head was found six days later at a location about 15 km away.
Officials said the district administration held several rounds of discussions with representatives of the tribal and Bengali communities, following which both sides agreed to maintain peace.
Relief and rehabilitation work has since been launched at MV-26 village, with preliminary assessment pegging property damage at around Rs 3.8 crore.
A two-member ministerial team headed by Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo visited the affected village, interacted with officials and locals, and submitted a report to the chief minister.
So far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, the officials said, adding that despite the withdrawal of prohibitory orders and restoration of internet services, security forces, including BSF and CRPF personnel, continue to be deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
On Sunday, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi visited MV-26 and neighbouring Rakhelguda villages, and held discussions with members of both communities as part of efforts to rebuild confidence and restore peace.
More than two lakh Bengali-speaking Bangladeshis were rehabilitated by the Centre in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts in 1968, and they currently reside in 124 villages of Malkangiri.
