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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State committee member N. Haridas has said that the verdict in the Palathayi POCSO case will be challenged in the Supreme Court, alleging that the case was fabricated and not backed by scientific evidence.
On Saturday (November 15, 2025), the Thalassery Protection of Children Sexual Offences (POCSO) Special Court sentenced former BJP leader and teacher K. Padmarajan to life imprisonment and fined him ₹2 lakh for sexually assaulting a Class IV student in Palathayi, Panoor. He received 40 years of imprisonment – 20 each for two separate POCSO offences. The sentence runs concurrently. His bail was revoked and he was shifted to Thalassery sub-jail.
In a statement, he said both the local police and the Crime Branch had initially found no scientific evidence to substantiate the girl’s allegations. According to him, the accused teacher had been targeted by religious extremists after he posted a Facebook comment supporting the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Mr. Haridas said that investigation, including the examination of CCTV footage based on the statement given by the girl, yielded no concrete evidence. He also claimed that the teacher had not attended school on the days the girl alleged the assaults took place but these findings were not taken into account.
He further stated that the girl had been taken to a gynaecologist two months before the complaint was filed, citing anaemia and no allegation of rape was raised at that time. Crime Branch IG S. Sreejith had also stated that this case lacked sufficient basis, which later triggered controversy after the survivor’s mother filed a complaint. Following this, the probe team was replaced and the investigation was handed over to Crime Branch DySP T.P. Ratnakumar, who despite the absence of scientific evidence, filed the chargesheet under POCSO relying on the girl’s initial statement.
Mr. Haridas alleged that Ratnakumar, now retired, is contesting as a CPI(M) candidate in Sreekandapuram municipality and said this aspect also warrants investigation.
Published – November 16, 2025 07:14 pm IST
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