“We were hoping that all the accused would be found guilty. But four of them have been acquitted, which is not fair.” These were the words of a father after a Sessions Court in Kerala, on Thursday, found 10 of the 14 accused in the case of his son’s murder, guilty.
It’s been almost fifteen months since the body of Kevin Joseph, a Dalit Christian man, was found in a canal in Kollam, two days after he was abducted by the brother of his wife, Neenu. Neenu’s brother Shanu Chacko, who was not happy about his sister deciding to marry Kevin, was one of the prime accused in the case. Shanu along with nine others were found guilty by the Principal Sessions Court of Kottayam Judge C Jayachandran on Thursday.
However, Neenu’s father Chacko John, the fifth accused in the case, and three other accused were acquitted by the court much to the disappointment of Joseph, Kevin’s father. “Chacko John is also guilty in the case and it was sad to know that he was acquitted. We will discuss with the prosecution and decide what has to be done next,” Joseph tells TNM. He also goes on to add that he will be waiting to hear what the guilty will be sentenced to on Saturday.
Shanu Chacko and the nine others have been found guilty of IPC section 364 A (Kidnap and threaten to kill), Section 302 (Murder) and other relevant sections.
Based on the statements from both sides, the court had observed that the murder of Kevin was indeed an ‘honour killing’, which also makes it the first ‘honour killing’ conviction in the state of Kerala.
Kevin was abducted by Shanu on May 26, 2018 and his body was found floating in the Chaliyekkara canal in Kollam on May 28.