Priest, nun convicted of 1992 murder of Indian woman religious
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More than 28 years after a 19-year-old nun was found dead in a convent well, a court in India s Kerala state convicted a priest and a woman religious of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church of murdering her.
BHOPAL, India More than 28 years after a 19-year-old nun was found dead in a convent well, a court in India’s Kerala state convicted a priest and a woman religious of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church of murdering her.
The special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation, a federal agency, convicted Father Thomas Kottoor and the nun, identified as Sister Sephy, Dec. 22,
Sister Abhaya murder case: 28 years after killing 19-year-old, Kerala priest and nun get life imprisonment
Father Thomas Kotoor and Sister Sephy was granted life imprisonment for murdering Sister Abhaya, whose dead body was found inside a well. CBI court pronounces verdict in the sister Abhaya murder case; holds both accused Fr Thomas Kottoor & nun Sr Sephy as guilty (Image Source: ANI)
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Updated: Dec 23, 2020, 06:59 PM IST
In a March 1992 case, a special court of the CBI on Wednesday sentenced life imprisonment to a priest and a nun for the murder of a 19-year-old Sister Abhaya. This crime had been a part of Kerala s news cycle ever since the Catholic nun s body was found inside a well at a convent in Kottayam on March 27, 1992.
Life sentence for Fr Thomas Kottoor, Sister Sephy in sensational Sr Abhaya murder case
Fr Kotoor was imposed fine for murder, destruction of evidence and tresspassing while Sr Sephy was imposed fine for murder and destruction of evidence.
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Fr Thomas Kottoor (L) and Sr Sephy were found guilty by the special CBI Court in Thiruvananthapuram. (Photo| Vincent Pulickal, EPS) By Express News Service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CBI Special Court has awarded life sentence to Fr Thomas Kottoor and Sister Sephy in the sensational Sister Abhaya murder case. The Court has also imposed a fine of Rs six-and-a-half lakh on Kottoor and five lakh on Sephy. Fr Kotoor was imposed fine for murder, destruction of evidence and tresspassing while Sr Sephy was imposed fine for murder and destruction of evidence.
Justice looked unlikely in the Abhaya case, and the convictions come as a relief
The verdict of a special CBI court in Thiruvananthapuram sentencing to life a former Catholic vicar, Thomas Kottoor, and a nun, Sister Sephy, upon finding them guilty of murdering a 21-year-old novitiate, Abhaya, at a convent in Kottayam, marks a welcome outcome to a long and tortuous investigation and prosecution process. It spells a modicum of relief to the lone surviving kin of Abhaya, her brother, and to those who kept an unflinching faith in the justice system. It was in 1992 that Sr. Abhaya, a pre-degree student, was found dead in a well at the St. Pius X Convent hostel where she was an inmate. The police and the Crime Branch hurriedly concluded it as a case of suicide. But a people’s action council led by activist Jomon Puthenpurackal sought judicial intervention, which resulted in the CBI taking over the investigation in 1993.