A petition has been filed in a Kollegal court seeking the transfer of the case relating to the arrest of Stella Mary, a Veerappan aide, for her alleged role in the Palar blast in 1993, to the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB).
P.P. Baburaj, an advocate and child rights activist who has filed the petition, has contended that Mary, who is now 43, was barely 16 years old when the alleged crime took place. Mary was arrested about a month ago and sent to judicial custody when the Kollegal police stumbled upon her while investigating the outbreak of a minor fire in a sugarcane field at Javeri village of Chamarajanagar district. Mary, the wife of Veluswamy, had fired in the air to drive away a herd of wild elephants that had entered their sugarcane field, leading to the outbreak of fire. When the police probed her about her ability to wield a firearm, they realised about her past association with the dreaded forest bandit.
Though she was arrested for the crime 27 years later, she was a minor when the actual blast took place, said Baburaj, who had earlier served as a member of the Juvenile Justice Board and the Child Welfare Committee of Mysuru district. “According to Section 9 of the Juvenile Justice Act, this court has no jurisdiction to try her. As she was a minor when the alleged offence took place, the case has to be transferred to the JJB,” he said.
Furthermore, Baburaj said Mary’s name in her school records was Elizabeth Rani. She was allegedly kidnapped by Veerappan’s gang when she was a minor. Subsequently, she was married to a gang member, Sunda Veliyar, who was later killed in a police encounter, Baburaj claimed.
Mary has two daughters — one from her earlier marriage and one with Veluswamy. Mary’s judicial custody has been extended twice since her arrest. She is produced once every 14 days for extension of custody, according to Baburaj.
