Kerala court acquits 84-year-old four years after wrongful arrest
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Four years after being arrested for mischief, an 84-year-old woman from Kerala's Palakkad was found not guilty in a criminal case on Tuesday, August 1. When the Palakkad Town South Police arrived at Bharathy Madathilveedu's home one day in 2019 with an arrest warrant, she was 80 years old. The accused in the case, who shared Bharathy's name and family name, was first detained but fled after being granted bail. According to the police, a mix-up resulting from the names and addresses being similar led to the elderly woman being detained instead of the accused.
“I was sitting at home when the police came to arrest me. I asked what the case was about, and they told me that it was a border dispute with a family. I stay at home and go to the temple. Besides that, I do not interact with anyone at all. I do not know how the police made this mistake,” Bharathy told the media.
The issue apparently relates to a dispute between a Rajagopal from Kallikadu and his domestic helper, Bharathy, in 1998. According to the complaint, after arguing with Rajagopal, the accused smashed potted plants and other items throughout the home and verbally attacked the complainant, the News Minute reported.
According to someone who was accompanying Bharathy, the situation shows that the police may have made a severe mistake. “Despite court orders, the police did not bother to ask the complainant in the case to verify if the accused is the same person who has been arrested. The summons in this regard has not reached the complainant’s house to this date. It is a lapse on the part of the police,” he said.
Bharathy’s lawyer also expressed a similar opinion. “If the police had gathered adequate information in the primary stages, a situation where Bharathy had to come to court could have been avoided,” he said.
Bharathy had to regularly appear in court for the previous four years even though she was granted bail in the case.
Bharathy's family members went in search of complainant Rajagopal, urging him to testify in court that the 84-year-old was innocent, while the police made little attempt to guarantee that he received the summons. The octogenarian's four-year struggle was finally over after Rajagopal showed up in court on Tuesday.
The 84-year-old woman was wed to Gangadharan, a government engineer in Tamil Nadu. She remained alone at her Palakkad home for a number of years after her husband's passing.