A court at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram will deliver its verdict in the murder case of Sister Abhaya on Tuesday, nearly three decades after she was found dead inside a convent. Sister Abhaya, a 12th class student, was found dead in the well of the Pious X Convent in Kottayam on March 27, 1992.
The case was initially ruled a suicide by the local police and criminal branch, but was turned over to CBI after protests broke out. The case was delayed as it wound through various levels of the judiciary. In the nearly 30 years that the trial lasted, several of the 177 witnesses have died or turned hostile. In addition to the murder case, the court will also render its verdict on some of the witnesses who turned hostile.
Here is a timeline of the key moments in the murder of Sister Abhaya:
March 27, 1992: Sister Abhaya’s body is found in a well at the Saint Pious convent in Kottayam.
January 1993: The state crime branch files a shutdown report saying it was a suicide case, but the outcry erupts thereafter.
March 23, 1993: The case is handed over to CBI after human rights activist Jomon Puthenpurackal brought the matter to court.
September 1996: CBI concludes in its first report that it is a suicide case. The court rejects his report and requests a new investigation.
March 1997: CBI in its second report says the case was a homicide, not a suicide. The court again rejects its findings. CBI launches a new investigation.
2007: The case is accelerated when SP Nandakumar Nair takes over the investigation
December 2008: CBI tells a court in Ernakulam for the first time in its third report that it was a murder and arrests three defendants: two Catholic priests, Father Thomas Kottoor and Father José Poothrukayil, and a nun, the Sister Sephy. They were charged with murder, destruction of evidence, criminal conspiracy and other charges. According to the charge sheet, Abhaya was killed because she witnessed an alleged immoral activity involving two priests and a nun. She was attacked with an ax before being thrown into the well, the central agency said.
January 2009 – All three are granted bail after spending six months in jail
July 17, 2009: CBI files a charge sheet in the case against the three defendants. The release statement of three files and it takes nine years to decide. Many other petitions also arose during this period that delayed the trial.
March 2018: the courts acquitted Father Poothrukayil for lack of evidence.
August 26, 2019: A trial in the case begins after 27 years. Many witnesses turn hostile.
September 19, 2019: CBI presents as a witness a retired professor Thresiama George, who had taught Abhaya at BCM College in Kottayam. She brings serious charges against the main defendant, Father Kotoor.
December 22, 2020: Verdict Day
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