On Friday, the Kerala High Court made an intervention on a plea by the parents of a convict in the Kevin murder case, about their son being tortured in the prison. The Live Law reported that Tittu Jerome's parents Jerome Kochukutty and Valsamma, filed a hebeas corpus petition before the court, stating that they were not allowed to meet their son, who was brutally mandhandled and was in an isolated cell of the Poojappura Central Prison.
Tittu was taken to the Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram after doctors in prison said that he needed immediate medical attention.
The High Court ordered that the local police should be on duty at the hospital instead of prison officials.
"We direct the Additional Director General of Police (Prison) or an authorised officer of the rank not below Deputy Inspector General of Police to conduct an enquiry and forward an interim report to the Additional District Judge II, Thiruvananthapuram on or before 12.00 noon tomorrow (Saturday). We also direct the Additional Director General of Police (Prison) and the Commissioner of Police, Thiruvananthapuram to ensure that the convict is provided a guard in the Medical College Hospital from the Police Force and no Central Prison personnel should be allowed access to him. The Commissioner shall ensure that the convict is given ample protection as also ensure his proper detention at the Medical College Hospital", the order passed by the bench said.
Justice Vinod Chandran remarked during the hearing, "The power to punish is with the courts. We will not allow 'eye for an eye', 'tooth for tooth' practices."
Advocates KP Satheesan and SK Adithyan appeared for Titto's parents.
Kevin Joseph, a 23-year-old Dalit Christian, was abducted and murdered in 2018, after his marriage to Neenu, born of a Latin Catholic father and a Muslim mother. Months later, a Kottayam court had observed that it was a case of 'honour killing'. In August 2019, 10 people including Tittu and Neenu's brother Shanu were found guilty of the murder.