By Matters India Reporter

Kochi, June 23, 2022: The Kerala High Court on June 23 granted bail to a Catholic priest and a nun who have been sentenced to life imprisonment in the sensational Abhaya murder case.

The division bench of Justices Vinod Chandran and C Jayachandran acted upon the petitions of Father Thomas Kottoor and Sister Sephy seeking suspension of their life term.

The court asked the two to deposit 500,000 rupees each and refrain from leaving Kerala without the court’s permission.

Earlier in December 2020, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Court had sentenced the priest to two life terms besides a fine of 500,000 rupees after conviction under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

Sister Sephy was also convicted and handed down life imprisonment under the same section in addition to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for tampering with evidence under Section 201 (destruction of evidence).

After a prolonged legal battle, the CBI court had found them guilty of murdering Sister Abhaya, whose body was found March 27, 1992, inside a well at a convent in Kottayam, a town in Kerala.

The trial court had allowed the discharge petition of another alleged accused Father Jose Puthrikkayil.

The victim and the accused belonged to the Knanaya Catholic Church, headquartered in Kottayam. At the time of her death, Abhaya was a pre-degree student in a Church college. She was staying in the Pius X Convent Hostel, which had 123 residents, including 20 nuns, when the incident happened.

According to CBI, Sister Abhaya was killed after she found Fathers Kottoor, Puthrikkayil and Sister Sephy in a compromising position inside the kitchen of the hostel. Fearing that she would disclose the incident, Father Kottoor allegedly strangled her while Sister Sephy allegedly hit her with an ax. Together, they allegedly dumped Abhaya’s body in a well within the compound.

Joemon Puthanpurakal, convener of Sister Abhaya Action Council who was present at the court. slammed the CBI for its “laxity.”

“It’s strange and unfortunate that the CBI doesn’t have a standing counsel and the counsel who appeared in this case for the CBI is one who does not understand Malayalam and did nothing. What happened today was the accused have only got bail without the court going into the merit of the case,” he added.

Puthenpurakal, who has followed the case for the past three decades, said his organization would now write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and to the CBI director on how the central agency has been handling the case.