A local court in Kerala on Wednesday stated that the murder of 24-year-old Kevin P. Joseph was indeed a case of honour killing.
Assessing the background of the crime, the Additional Sessions Court in Kottayam produced its judgment over the prosecution's plea, demanding that Kevin's murder be considered as a case of honour killing. As a result, the trial will be now be completed within six months.
The charge-sheet says that Kevin, a dalit Christian from Kottayam, was kidnapped and murdered by a gang led by Sanu Chacko, brother of Kevin's fiancee Neenu Chacko, on May 27. Sanu is the prime accused while his father Chacko is the fifth accused.
Kevin had met Neenu as she pursued a course at a college in Kottayam. Two days before the murder, the two had filed a joint application for marriage registration at a sub-registrar office in Kottayam as Neenu's family fiercely objected to their marriage.
Neenu's family later registered a complaint with the police stating that she had gone missing. Though the police summoned the two, Kevin and his cousin Anish left the girl back at her hostel as she confirmed that she intended to go with Kevin.
Thereafter, the armed gang, which arrived in three vehicles, reached Kottayam and vandalised Kevin's house. They forcibly took away Kevin and Anish. The abductors thrashed Anish severely and left him on the way.
Kevin's body was later found in a river in Kollam on May 28. His relatives alleged that he was tortured and killed.
His family had alleged that laxity on the part of the local police in taking action on a man-missing complaint filed by Neenu had resulted in the gruesome death of the youth.
Sub-inspector M.S. Shibu and ASI Sunnymon of the Gandhinagar police station were suspended, while Kottayam district superintendent of police V.M. Mohammed Rafique was transferred following the incident.
The post-mortem conducted at the Kottayam Medical College hospital had found that there were 16 cuts and bruises on Kevin's body.
The findings of the police inquiry and the post-mortem say that Kevin drowned in the Chaliyakkara river while he was trying to escape from the gang. But doubts remain whether Kevin died after falling in the river while running at night or if he was beaten by the goons and dumped in the river in the belief that he had died.
