Abhaya case: High Court stays trial proceedings

January 17, 2013 01:22 am | Updated December 17, 2016 04:17 am IST - KOCHi:

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday stayed the proceedings in the Sister Abhaya death case now pending before the Central Bureau of Investigation’s special court in Thiruvananthapuram.

Justice V.K. Mohanan issued the stay order on a petition filed by Jomon Puthenpurackal challenging the special court’s order dismissing his petition seeking further investigation in the case. The special court had posted the case to January 19 for trial.

The petition alleged that the special court had miserably failed to appreciate facts in the case. The special court had said that a further investigation would again delay the trial. The special court had erroneously concluded that none of the developments, including tampering with the work register at the forensic laboratory, warranted a detailed further investigation. The destruction of case properties had not been considered by the special court with the seriousness it deserved. The court had made a feeble and legally untenable attempt to justify the destruction of case properties.

The CBI had submitted that it had found substantial scientific and circumstantial evidence to try the accused in the case.

The CBI had taken the stand that though there were no eyewitnesses to the incident which took place on March 27, 1992, it had collected sufficient evidence to try the accused, Fr. Jose Poothrukayil, Fr. Thomas M. Kottoor, and Sister Stephi.

The CBI’s case was that Sr. Stephi had hit Abhaya three times on the head with the blunt side of an axe when the 19-year-old entered the convent’s kitchen to drink water and found the accused in ‘objectionable circumstances.’

The prosecution’s charge was that the accused had thrown Abhaya into the convent’s well to make her death appear as if it was a case of suicide or an accident.

The agency had concluded that the inquest report filed by the State police was ‘false and forged’ and that Abhaya’s death was a classic case of homicidal drowning.

The CBI had filed three reports in the case, the first one saying that Abhaya had committed suicide.

In its second report, the agency had stated that it could not establish beyond doubt whether Abhaya had committed suicide or was murdered. Finally in 2008, the agency submitted the final report in the case stating that the nun was murdered.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.