Sister Abhaya murder case | HC suspends life sentence of convicts

Father Thomas M. Kottoor and Sister Sephy — convicts in the Sister Abhaya murder case — had their life sentence suspended and were granted bail by the Thiruvananthapuram CBI Special Court

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Thursday suspended the sentence of life imprisonment awarded by the Thiruvananthapuram CBI Special Court to Fr. Thomas M. Kottoor and Sister Sephy, convicts in the Sister Abhaya murder case.

The Bench comprising Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice C. Jayachandran also granted them bail. The order came on a petition seeking to suspend their sentences and grant them bail, filed by the convicts along with their appeals against the CBI Special Court verdict.

EDITORIAL: Murder in the convent: On Sister Abhaya murder case

Fr. Kottoor and Sister Sephy were awarded the sentence after they were found guilty of murdering Sister Abhaya. Abhaya was found dead in a well at Pious X convent of the Knanaya Catholic order in Kottayam in March 1992.

The trial court had found that the accused persons had inflicted a fatal blow on the rear side and middle of the head of Sister Abhaya with a blunt weapon, like a hand axe, at about 4.30 am on March 27, 1992, on the ground floor of the Convent to murder her, knowing that the injuries were sufficient to cause her death.

Later, they dumped her into the well near the room of Sister Sephy to make it appear that the injuries were sustained during the fall and that Sister Abhaya had committed suicide to shield themselves from legal punishment.

P. Vijayabhanu, Senior Counsel for Sister Sephy, contended that there was no evidence to show that Father Thomas Kottoor and Sister Sephy had met each other on the night of March 26, 1992. There was nothing on record to show that the injuries found on the body of the deceased were inflicted by the accused persons or any one of them.