'Did not mention minor victim’s name’; POCSO case cannot be registered against me, says R Sreelekha

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former DGP and corporation councilor R Sreelekha has clarified that there is no legal possibility of registering a POCSO case against her. Her response was following the directive to register a case for revealing the names of victims in rape cases. The court's directive was on a complaint filed by Thiruvananthapuram Civil Rights and Social Justice Society Secretary R Jayachandran. She clarified that she did not mention the name of any minor victim in the video.

‘The case is against a video made on my YouTube channel in 2021. The case is for the revealing the name of a rape victim in the video. The case is for revealing the name of Kiliroor victim. A team led by me investigated that case. All the accused in it were punished. The case was first investigated by the Kerala police and was later handed over to the CBI. The FIR mentioned that the child was a minor. However, during investigation, it was found that she was an adult. She was 20 years when she died in 2003. The POCSO case cannot stand because of that. It will be understood if the police investigate it.

I have been receiving such criticisms ever since I entered politics. This is to personally attack me. As a mother, wife and former police officer, I have never knowingly harmed a rape victim or her family. It will continue to be like that. The incidents related to the Kiliroor case are still in many medias including Wikipedia. Years have passed since she died. In such incidents, when candles are lit as a mark of respect for such people, there is no need to feel anything special about those names coming out. Anyone can guess the motive behind this. Neither her family nor her relatives have any complaint. A POCSO case has been registered just to scare them,' said Sreelekha.