In a crucial development, the Kerala High Court ordered a retrial in an alleged rape and murder case of two minor sisters in 2017 in Walayar. The girls were 13 and 9-years-old at the time and were from the scheduled caste community. Both sisters were allegedly sexually assaulted and were found hanging two months apart.

The High Court has set aside the verdict of a trial court which acquitted all the accused in the case and ordered for a retrial.

The elder sister was found hanging in a room in their house in January 2017 and her younger sister, who was a witness in the case, was found hanging two months later.

While four accused were acquitted by the trial court, one of them died by suicide during the trial.

The mother as well as the state government had appealed against the trial court verdict.

The trial court while acquitting the accused, had slammed the police for their failure to prove the crime and lack of evidence in the case. Though the police had said that post-mortem report showed severe sexual abuse, the trial court had stated lack of evidence as reason for acquittal.

The parents had also held a dharna outside the state secretariat in October 2020 demanding justice.

Several political organisations in Kerala, including student wings of both the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the BJP, had protested outside the secretariat in state capital Thiruvananthapuram to demand justice over the acquittals in the case.