LI NETWORK
The High Court of Kerala admitted Father Kottoor’s filed appeal against his conviction in the 1992 murder case of Sister Abhaya. A division bench consisting of Justices K Vinod Chandran and M R Anitha issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with regards to the same.
In the submitted appeal, Father Thomas Kottoor stated that the judgment given by the trial court was based upon “unconnected story circumstances culled out from unreliable solitary witnesses” with a reference to Mr. Adakka Raju, one of the key witnesses of the case.
The appeal contended that the court hadn’t really quoted the evidence submitted in its judgment. It stated that the conviction, as well as the trial conducted by the court, are full of grave irregularities and illegalities.
The Father was given a life sentence on the 23rd of December by a Special CBI court in Thiruvananthapuram. He was sentenced along with Sister Sephy for Sister Abhaya’s murder by the CBI Court.
A 20-year-old Sister named Abhaya was found dead inside St. Pious Xth Covent’s well on the 27th of March in Kottayam in the year 1992.
Due to lack of evidence, the murder case was initially closed as a suicide by the local police department and the Kerala Police crime branch. But it was reopened and given to the CBI due to great public outcry. The CBI failed to make headway in this case until the year 2008.
On the 1st of November of 2008, the Kerala High Court gave a direct order to CBI’s Kochi Unit to handle the investigation. After that within 18 days, on the 19th of November of the same year, the unit made the arrest of the two Fathers Thomas Kottoor, Jose Poothrikkaylu, and a Pius Kottayam Convent nun named Sister Sephy.
Father Kottoor and Sister Sephy were finally convicted after several delays by a CBI court on the 23rd of December in 2020. They were given a life imprisonment sentence and also given directions to pay a penalty of Rs. 5 Lakhs each. Apart from this imposition, the Father was also given the direction to pay an extra Rs. 1 Lakh sum for house trespassing during the case.
The single bench of Justice V G Arun of the Kerala High Court expedited the trail on a regular day-by-day basis in the month of October in 2020. He stated that it was “disheartening to note that criminal proceedings pertaining to a crime of 1992 is yet to attain finality, whether it be by reason of providence or design”. He allowed the witness cross-examination to take place through the mode of video conferencing owing to the pandemic.