KOCHI: The Kerala High Court has stayed the arrest of the parents of the girls in the Walayar sexual abuse case. The high court's single bench has issued a directive on the plea seeking to quash the CBI chargesheet. The court has also granted relief to the parents from appearing directly in the trial court.

The victims’ parents demanded that the action of the CBI against them be quashed and that further investigation be conducted in the case. The main argument in the plea is that the children's death was not suicide but murder and that the CBI did not take the evidence to substantiate this at face value.

The findings of the CBI were that the parents conspired to sexually abuse the minor girls. The CBI also argued that the mental pressure following the sexual abuse was the reason for the suicide of them.

The special CBI court in Kochi had earlier directed the parents of the girls to appear on April 25. The CBI has filed a chargesheet in the case, making them the second and third accused.

The parents have been made accused in six of the nine cases registered by the CBI. The parents, who came to know about the abuse, kept silent. The charge sheet also said the police were not informed immediately. A report previously given had made the parents as witnesses.