Kottayam, August 23, 2019: The Principal Sessions Court in Kottayam, Kerala, has convicted 10 people in the murder of a Dalit Christian youth.

Jjudge C. Jayachandran on August 22 agreed the murder of Kevin P Joseph was a case of honor killing. The court approved the prosecution’s argument that racial prejudice was the motive behind the murder.

The prosecution had arraigned 14 as guilt but the court acquitted four, including Chacko John, father of the victim’s wife Neenu, for want of proof.

The convicted include Neenu’s brother Shyanu Chacko and the ten were found guilty of murder and kidnapping for ransom.

The quantum of sentence to the guilty will be declared after a hearing on August 24.

During the trial, Special Prosecutor C.S. Ajayan requested the court to consider the crime as a case of honor killing, pointing to the Supreme Court order in March which put in place punitive, preventive and remedial guidelines to tackle honor killings.

According to the prosecution, first accused Shyanu Chacko and fifth accused Chacko John were reluctant to send Neenu with Kevin. To buttress the argument, it also quoted a statement in this regard by Neenu, a key witness in the case, and pleaded the court to consider it as a rarest of rare case.

The counsel of the accused, however, objected to this by citing that Chacko John had agreed to marry his daughter off to Kevin during a reconciliation talk held at the Gandhinagar police station.

As per the case, a gang led by Shyanu Chacko abducted Kevin from Gandhi Nagar to Thenmala on May 27, 2018, and chased him to a stream at Chaliyakkara, near Thenmala, with an intention to kill him.

Two days before the death, Kevin and Neenu had filed a joint application for marriage. While Neenu was sent to a hostel thereafter, Kevin shifted to the residence of Aneesh, one of his relative. Though the duo was abducted from there, Aneesh was let off later.

The special investigation team led by Dy. SP Girish P. Sarathy, which probed the case, submitted the charge sheet on August 21, 2018.

The trial in the case began on April 24 with the examination of witnesses, followed by examination of the accused. Except for a 10-day break in May, the hearing was conducted without any interruptions and the proceedings drew to a close on July 30, in a record time of just over three months.

Source: The Hindu