Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state committee member N. Haridas said the verdict in the Palathaya POCSO case will be challenged in the Supreme Court, saying the case was fabricated and not supported by scientific evidence.
On Saturday (November 15, 2025), the Thalassery Special Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Court (POCSO) sentenced former BJP leader and teacher K. Padmarajan to life imprisonment and a fine of ₹ 2 lakh for sexually assaulting a Class IV student in Palathaya, Panoor. He was given 40 years in prison – 20 each for two separate POCSO offences. The sentence runs concurrently. His bail was canceled and he was shifted to Thalassery jail.
He said in a statement that both the local police and the crime branch initially found no scientific evidence to support the girl’s allegations. According to him, the accused teacher became a target of religious extremists after he posted a comment on Facebook supporting the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Mr Haridas said the investigation, including examination of CCTV footage based on the girl’s statement, had not yielded any concrete evidence. He also claimed the teacher did not attend school on the days the girl claimed the assault took place, but these findings were not taken into account.
He further stated that the girl was taken to a gynecologist two months before the complaint was filed with reference to anemia and no rape allegations were made at that time. Crime Branch IG S Sreejith also said the case lacked sufficient foundation, which later sparked controversy after the survivor’s mother filed a complaint. After that, the investigation team was replaced and the investigation was handed over to DySP crime branch TP Ratnakumar who, despite the absence of scientific evidence, filed a case under POCSO based on the girl’s original statement.
Alleging that Ratnakumar, who is now retired, was running as a CPI(M) candidate in Sreekandapuram municipality, Mr. Haridas said this aspect also required investigation.
Published – 16 Nov 2025 19:14 IST
