A little before noon on Wednesday K. Sanilkumar, CBI Special Judge, brought the curtains down on the 28-year-old Sister Abhaya case with a terse statement.
“Accused number one (Fr. Thomas. M. Kottoor) and three (Sister Sephy) are sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and a fine of ₹5 lakh for the offence under Section 302 of the IPC (murder).” he pronounced.
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The priest and nun stood in the rear of the court. They appeared stoic. The police had escorted them to the court from prison after the judge cancelled their bail on Tuesday.
Before the verdict, the judge heard the accused. Fr. Kottoor said he ailed from prostate cancer. Sister Sephy cited ill-health and said her aged parents required support. Both pleaded for clemency. Outside the courtroom, a few nuns of the Knanaya order sat in silence.
The brevity of the proceedings belied the ups and downs and long legal meanderings of the case. It took more than 28 years for the Abhaya case to reach the trial stage in August last.
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Mr. Sanilkumar seemed to encapsulate the Abhaya case saga by quoting 19th-century British historian Lord Macaulay.
“At first thrillingly dramatic, soon became interminably long, cumbersome, and dull. The trial dragged on for years and years, during which the judges retired innumerable times to their chambers to discuss the points of law that arose again, and again and again, and then marched back to the Court Hall. The judges walked, and the trial stood still,” the judge said.
Outside the court premises, a phalanx of television camerapersons and journalists waited for the judgment. A five-year-old stand-off between journalists and the Bar Association prevented newspersons from reporting the open court proceedings.
Most relied on information conveyed to them from inside the court by friendly lawyers on their mobile phones. The Abhaya case had dominated the news cycle since Tuesday.
Soon, Jomon Puthenpurackal, the public interest litigant, who championed the “Justice For Abhaya” cause arrived in front of the cameras and broke the news.
The State police had termed Abhaya’s death a suicide caused by depression. Multiple CBI officers had closed the case as “untraced”. Finally, in 2009, DySP, CBI, Nandkumar Nair, arrested two priests and the nun for murder. The High Court discharged the second accused. Mr. Puthenpurackal had “impleaded” in the case and pursued it doggedly. The convicts were served a copy of the judgment. Officers took their height and weight and identified their physical features in the court office. Soon, Prisons Department officials arrived. Jail wardens took Sr. Sephy to the Attakulangara Women’s Prison and Fr. Kottoor to the Central Prison, Poojappura by afternoon. The defence counsel said he would appeal the verdict in the High Court.
