Suryanelli gangrape case: Bail plea hearing of 14 accused posted to March 4

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala High Court on Monday posted till March 4 the bail hearing of 14 of the 36 accused in the Suryanelli gangrape case. The bail pleas had come up for hearing on Monday following an order from the Supreme Court. The list of the accused, however, does not include Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien.

Meanwhile, in a related incident, the Kerala police filed a case against 111 people for a 'defamatory' post on Facebook against Kurien. One person had posted the status and 110 people had shared it.

The police action came after a complaint was filed against the post by Kerala Mahila Congress member Bindu Krishna.

The bail pleas had come up for hearing on Monday following an order from the Supreme Court.

Kurien is not an accused in the case. Two days ago, the rape survivor had lodged a police complaint insisting that Kurien be made accused.

The complaint lodged at Chingavanam police station also sought that Dharmarajan, an absconding convict who had jumped bail in the case and was arrested recently from Karnataka, and two other persons - Unnikrishnan and Jamal, be also arraigned as accused.

According to the complainant, Dharmarajan had told a television channel that he had accompanied Kurien to Kumily rest house in his car on February 19, 1996 where the girl was sexually exploited. The girl and her parents had come to the police station to file the complaint. The Assistant Sub-Inspector accepted the complaint but refused to register the case saying the Sub-Inspector was not present, the survivor's counsel Anila George said.

So far, there is no police case or FIR against Kurien.

With additional information from PTI

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