The Kerala Prisons Department has transferred three officials who have been accused of allegedly beating up a convict in the Kevin murder case inside the Central Prison in Thiruvananthapuram. Bijukumar S and Sanal have been transferred to the open jail, Nettukaltheri in the outskirts of the district, while Bijukumar VV has been transferred to Special Sub Jail Neyyatinkara. Bijukumar S and Sanal are Deputy Prison Officers while Bijukumar VV is an Assistant Prison Officer.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Prisons (South Zone) P Ajayakumar told TNM that this is to avoid a situation where the convict in the case and the officers, against whom the allegations have been made, are at the same prison.
The case pertains to 2018, when 23-year old Dalit Christian, Kevin Joseph, was abducted and murdered in May after his marriage to Neenu, the daughter of a Catholic father and a Muslim mother. In August 2019, ten people including Neenu’s brother Shanu and Tittu Jerome were sentenced to double life imprisonment by Principal Sessions Court of Kottayam. Tittu’s parents have now alleged that Tittu was manhandled in jail.
Chief Welfare Officer Prisons VP Sunil Kumar will conduct a detailed enquiry into the allegation. “We have done a preliminary enquiry and submitted a report based on that,” the DIG added.
The Kerala High Court on Friday made an intervention on a plea moved by the parents of the convict in the Kevin murder case. In a habeas corpus plea filed before the court, Jerome Kochukutty and Valsamma, Tittu Jerome’s parents, stated that they were not allowed to meet their son, who was “brutally manhandled” and that he was being kept in an isolated cell of the Central Prison.
The convict, Tittu Jerome, was taken to the Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram owing to the prison doctor’s suggestion that he needed immediate medical attention.
The HC directed to conduct an enquiry by the Additional Director General of Police (Prisons) or an authorised officer of the rank not below DIG to conduct an enquiry and forward an interim report to the Additional District Judge II by Saturday.
Advocates KP Satheesan and SK Adithyan appeared for Titto's parents.
"The Commissioner shall ensure that the convict is given ample protection as also to ensure his proper detention at the Medical College Hospital, " said the order passed by the HC division bench. "The power to punish is with the courts. We will not allow 'eye for an eye', tooth for tooth practices,” Justice Vinod Chandran remarked.
The HC also ordered that the local police should be on duty at the hospital and not prison officials.