Congress unlikely to act against Kurien in rape case


New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS): The Congress is unlikely to take any action against Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P.J. Kurien, whose name has been dragged into the Suryanelli rape case, a Congress leader said Monday.

"There are too many gaps in the fact sheet of the case. We need to ascertain the truth in the matter," said a Congress leader on the condition of anonymity.

The Congress may not act against Kurien in the 17-year-old alleged rape case despite knowing that the opposition would raise the issue in the parliament's budget session starting Feb 21.

The Congress has been defending Kurien saying the party would like to wait till all the facts in the case are known.

Kurien met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi last week and explained his position.

The Congress has said that Kurien's name was cleared in the case by the Supreme Court and it was for state investigation agencies or the apex court to make any further observations in the matter.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has refused to reopen the case.

According to party sources, there is no "tolerance" in the Congress for a serious charge like rape, but a person cannot be "hanged" merely on the basis of an allegation.

"If this is done without taking all the facts into account, it could set a dangerous trend," said a Congress leader.

But the Congress, which plans to pass a tough anti-rape law in the budget session, understands the embarrassment it could face when parliament debates the issue with Kurien in the chair.

A possible compromise formula could be that Kurien may offer not to officiate as deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha to calm the opposition, sources said.

They added that the matter may not be blown out of proportion if the opposition is taken into confidence on the issue.

"Kurien had filed a defamation case against his detractors earlier and won. There were no counter appeals. He had won elections but the issue was never raised. Why now?" said a Congress leader.

The sex scandal took place at Suryanelli in Kerala's Idukki district January 1996, when the then 16-year-old was allegedly threatened, abducted and abused by a bus conductor and was later confined and sexually assaulted for 45 days by 42 men.

  

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Comment on this article

  • Uday Shetty, Shirva/Doha Qatar

    Tue, Feb 19 2013

    As rightly said by Mr Peter, guilty should be punished whether he is BJP or Congress. However in this case Congress was fully supported by BJP. Arun Jaitly was the lawyer for Kurien when the hearing took place at Supreme Court. So I dont think any one from BJP or Congress will come to rescue the victim from Suryanelli (For BJP she is a Christian so no vote bank, for Congress their MP is in stake). In my personal opinion Mr Kurien should give way for impartial proceeding and come out clean by his own.

    DisAgree Agree [1] Reply Report Abuse

  • Peter Pereira, Pune

    Tue, Feb 19 2013

    Whether Cheria aan or Kuria aan, the guilty should be punished, whether they are in Congress or in BJP. Party should refrain from supporting criminals and rapists. 'Nangal nangal, ningal ningal' are very dangerous characters with dirty political tricks from low level to the highest.

    DisAgree Agree [3] Reply Report Abuse

  • C Sharath, Mangalore

    Tue, Feb 19 2013

    Only action we can expect from Congress for such "SAIDHANTHIKA" deed is Promotion, like in the case of Kalmaadi. Baaki sab teek hai.

    DisAgree Agree [3] Reply Report Abuse

  • Jossey Saldanha, Mangalore/Mapusa/Mumbai

    Tue, Feb 19 2013

    Mr. Kurien's case was cooked up in Karnataka by Advocate Dharmarajan of BJP who is the main accused in this rape.........

    DisAgree [2] Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse

  • Dinesh Poojary, Kundapura/Bengaluru

    Tue, Feb 19 2013

    Avinash, Mangalore

    In Karnataka all the 3 minsiters resigned from minister. Why can't kurien resign from his post?

    DisAgree [3] Agree [4] Reply Report Abuse

  • Avinash, Mangalore

    Tue, Feb 19 2013

    Mr. Shetty India.. Its not only Sonia Raja.. In karnataka nothing happened to Blue Boys.. Biggest crime was watching porn in Most respected Assembly..Even though having clean video footage, Blue boys proved innocent.. Wat a tragedy??? So think twice before comment..

    DisAgree [4] Agree [5] Reply Report Abuse

  • SHETTY, INDIA

    Tue, Feb 19 2013

    its Sonia Raja....anything can happen ....If congress takes action Kurien will bring all the truth of the Gandhi family....so nothing can be done by Sonia......

    DisAgree [8] Agree [6] Reply Report Abuse


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