KOCHI: The High Court on Thursday suspended execution of the life imprisonment sentence of Fr Thomas Kottoor and Sr Sephy, who were convicted in the Sister Abhaya murder case. A division bench comprising Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice C Jayachandran also granted bail to the duo.
Sister Abhaya was found dead in a well at St Pius X Convent in Kottayam on March 27, 1992. The CBI Special Court, Thiruvananthapuram, had found Fr Kottoor and Sister Sephy guilty of murder and sentenced them to life in prison.
B Raman Pillai, Kottoor’s counsel, said the prosecution’s allegation that the first, second and third accused committed the crime and when the second accused was discharged, the very foundation of the allegation was put in peril.
P Vijaya Bhanu, Sephy’s counsel, said there was no evidence that Sephy and Kottoor were together on the said night or were involved in the crime. The bench said following a look at the evidence as pointed out by the defence and not effectively countered by the prosecution, “we cannot but release the two accused as an interim measure, suspending their sentence until the appeal is disposed.”
Citing flaws in the investigation, the HC said the doctor deposed that the probe officer had produced a weapon that looked like a ‘kaikodali’, whose wooden handle could have caused the injuries on the head.
“However, no axe (kaikodali) was seized by the police or produced in court. As argued by defence, an axe was recovered in the earlier probe but not produced in court,” it said.
On the CBI’s counsel submission that the maid in the convent had spoken of a hand axe, the court said the statement was that ‘there was an axe lying on the side of the kitchen.’ “The testimony is that there was no hand axe on the premises (scene of crime). When a weapon is shown to the doctor, we should assume it was seized from the crime spot or recovered after being pointed out by the accused. Both the circumstances are not applicable in this case,” said the court.
Doubts raised by court
* Witness Adakka Raju spoke of seeing Kottoor, with whom he had no prior acquaintance, in torchlight the previous night. He saw the accused in pitch dark from a tree on the neighbouring property, while the former was on the terrace of the five-storey convent building. In court, he said he saw two persons approaching the staircase of the convent, from the next property separated by a wall. “The versions are highly improbable and insufficient for a valid identification as there is no source of light mentioned,” said the court.
*Social worker Kalarcode Venugopalan Nair said Kottoor confessed about living with Sephy. The court said it was not relevant as the alleged crime was murder and not lewd immorality. “We notice the first accused is not being tried for an illicit relationship with a woman. If it is established, it does not prove his involvement in the crime,” said the court.