Sr. Abhaya Case – Arrests made
Posted by JoNov 21
It looks like justice is finally being done in the Sr. Abhaya murder case. After 16 years, the CBI has arrested and remanded two priests and a nun on Nov 18th and 19th. The CBI joint director Ashok Kumar said the arrests were made on strong evidence. It was evident from the news came out in May 2008 that the narco analysis points at Thomas Kottoor, Jose Poothrikkayil and Stephy as the culprits.
The arrest also renews my faith in our country’s judicial system. Reportedly, there were serious tampering of evidence right from the beginning of the case inquiry. The case was initially taken by Kerala Police and then moved to Crime Branch and finally to several teams of CBI. The Court intervened and severly criticized CBI and closely followed up the case. If not for the Kerala High Court and the latest CBI team, the case would have been lost forever and the arrests would never have been made.
One person to remember on this occassion is Mr. Varghese P Thomas, the retired DSP of CBI. In 1993, he called a press conference and announced his resignation from CBI, stating that his conscience did not permit him to comply with a strong directive given by his superior officer, V. Thyagarajan, the then Superintendent of CBI Cochin Unit. He had also mentioned that the political pressure came from various places including the then prime minister Narasimha Rao’s office. The action council convener Jomon Puthenpurackal later said in a press conference that former minister K M Mani was involved in the putting political pressure on the case.
But the most dissapointing statement comes from the Catholic church authorities. Instead of letting the court take its due course, the authorities are trying to defend the accused. The diocesan vigilance committee of the Knanaya Archeparchy of Kottayam has said that the arrest is ‘mysterious’. They also claimed that those who have been arrested are innocent! But it is not surprising as Kottoor was serving in the higher posts of the Church. But the Church is only going to put the entire community in shame. It is high time that the Catholic church members come out and voice against such authorities.
Related post: Sr. Abhaya Murder Case – New developments
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11 comments
Comment by Manikandan on November 21, 2008 at 1:07 am
Dear Joe,
We cannot say that justice had done to Sr.Abhaya until the convicts are punished. Trail is a time taking process in our country and many times the accused get the benefits of loopholes and escape from punishment. I expect a speedy trial in this case.
Comment by t.k. on November 21, 2008 at 1:44 am
I agree Joe. By defending the cold-blooded killers, the church and self-styled protectors of church like K.M.Mani are putting the entire Kerala Catholic community in shame.
Comment by Undan on November 21, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Hi Da,
Sad part is that the “Narco” is not accepted as an evidence in courts. Usually, for investigators it is only a way to figure out what happened. They have to produce other solid clues to the court to prove the statements. In this case, almost all the evidence has been erased permanently. Hopefully, there is still some left to prove this case.
Who knows what all ugly politic/religious mafia actions we are about to see in the coming days.
– Undan.
Comment by Din on November 22, 2008 at 8:53 am
Yes, that is the biggest tragedy, I mean the statements from the the Catholic church authorities. But no surprise as usual. Even the PMO was involved in this case and it was very clear that ‘proper protection’ was given to the ’suspected three’ all the time – from politicians too.
Just going through the newspapers for the last few months – Muslim leaders and political parties who ‘claim to support’ minorities still think the Jamia Mia encounter was a fake one ! (according to them even the death of an excellent police officer is also ‘fake’ !!!). Muslim leaders who issue ‘Fatwa’ against all small mistakes didn’t even think of throwing out these terrorists from their religion, they didn’t even spoke a word against them !
And that is not all, Advani and other leaders are in support of the hindu terrorists (yes, nothing wrong in calling them that). Very clear evidence is there, still they support the lady and other people behind the terrorist activities !
So don’t you think it is the ‘duty’ of catholic church authorities to protect the ‘three’ who are innocent (who were discussing ‘mullaperiyar dam and ecological issues’ at 5 AM in the morning in the convent and not doing anything ‘bad’)
Poor people and you are criticising them ! How sad lol
I remember watching a talk show / phone in by Nikesh Kumar in India Vision 2 weeks back. That was something related to the bomb blast in Kannur etc. The CPIM / CITU leader MM Lawrence was commenting like – two groups get in fight, and some of them die – Nikesh asked him a question instantly, that was – are you sure it is always just a fight between two groups and it is not always a planned murder ? The political leader very cleverly escaped from answering it, but the ll people who watched it understood that Lawrence agreed political parties do planed murder.
What my point is, let it be religion or it may be politics, the motto is – Protect our people even if they do crime. Let it be murder or something else. So as I mentioned above, poor Catholic church authorities.
Don’t you know the actual incident ?, Abhaya came to drink water, and after drinking a glass of water, she suddenly thought, why not committing suicide, and done that ! Thats all your honor
Comment by Incognito on November 23, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Agree with Din.
Despite the crooks that abound our society, government and all our religions, it is refreshing to see some people like Joemon Puthenpurackal and Varghese P Thomas stand up for what they consider right and fighting for it with resilience.
When will people like these join mainstream politics and ‘do an Obama’?
May be their actions are signposts for us to stand up ourselves and fight for what we consider right in our own life.
Comment by angel on November 24, 2008 at 1:23 pm
i am a 30 yr old woman.in my life i studied most of my time in convent school hostel in keral state.from my 8yr to 18 yrs.in my school and colleage days ,i have heared some priests and some nuns are doing these type of vulgar things.i know some of them.but ’sabha’ always kept these things as secrets.they also torture some younger sisters in physicaly for very small sins.elder sisters will give these panishments.they are treating nuns from poor family and from rich family are different.i know one nun told me she is suffering more than a girl suffering in rude husbands family.in my opinion,kitchen eemployees of each and every convent will know all things abt the convent.who is coming and going(if it knows the mother sister of the convent).because nuns will treat priests like a very very important guest(its a common fact).they have to prepare food or juice for everybody.they have to wake up early in morning.but there are good people also in christian convents and seminary.i am a christian too.in my opinion every priests should be get married.it will reduce these type of crime.and should make an age limit to join in seminary or convent.at least after 18yrs old.i hope ,if she(abhaya)was a good nun,killers will get hard panishment for rest of their life.because they killed the’ bride’ of Jesus Christ.
Comment by Riya on December 4, 2008 at 10:28 am
Congrags to the team for finding out the culprits ! Such priests and nuns must be robbed of their religious life. But the respect shown to the religious personnels must’nt be stopped. They are the ones who lead us spiritually. Mostly 70% of the population wish their children to be convent educated because it is run by religious persons. All of them are not bad. There are good and bad people everywhere. Be it any life religious life or a family life. There are instances of mothers killing their own children or fathers ill treating their children. Does that stop anyone from becoming a father or a mother ? Or do we loose respect for our own parents ? Certainly not ! There are so many religious personnels who are very good and do good things for the soceity. These kind of incidents should’nt change one’s outlook on them. Encourage them and love them ! At the same time, if someone acts bad don’t spare them either !
Comment by John on December 13, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I am still surprised ..not cause the thought the priests will not do this or nun can do this ..but how they could wrapped this case till ..Who helped them to intervene in CBI probe ?Who helped to distroy all the evidence ? ..Obviously there was a political and money power behind this ..
Are this priests and nuns themselves alone could do this ??? CBI could reveal this too , who all intervene in this to hide the truth …..May be that will help to sue the real culprits and the axe the roots so that it may not happen again …
Comment by RAMESH MATHEW on December 18, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Some senior bishops and priests are trying to reduce the CATHOLIC CHURCH in Kerala to the level of a shouting brigade with their attempts to influence the judiciary by making all sorts of allegations against the present team of CBI officials, investigating the Sr Abhaya case. Some priests and nuns seem to be sharing a wrong notion that by airing and hurling too many lies in public and also through a section of media, the truth could be suppressed. Faithful feel it was the arrested trio that eliminated Sr Abhaya for obvious reasons.
The culprits and their godfathers could still technically claim that narco-analysis could not be taken as a final evidence. However, that is not the end of the story. Maximum harm has already been done to the church with the actions and “adventures” of Kottoor, Puthrukkayil and Mrs (?) Sephy. They should be hanged.
Pingback by Humans and Hymen on December 23, 2008 at 11:13 am
[...] first heard the word Hymenoplasty when the reports came that Sr. Sephy (one of the accused in the Sr. Abhaya murder case) had undergone this surgery. In the Sr. Abhaya murder case, Sr. Sephy allegedly had done [...]
Comment by SUKUMARAN on December 30, 2008 at 10:59 am
CONGRATS TO CBI COCHIN DIVISION (ONLY TO COCHIN DIVISION)
IN THE WORLD, ALL KERALITES ARE KNOWING THAT, THESE THREE ARE CULPRITS BEHIND THIS CASE AND ATLAST THE CBI COCHIN DIVISION ARRESTED THESE THREE.
AT THIS TIME, WE SHOULD NOT JOMON PUTHENPURACKAL AND EX-CBI DYSP VARGHESE P THOMAS.
I WOULD SAY THAT, K.T.MICHAEL, V.V.AUGUSTINE WERE DOING SHABBY INVESTIGATION AT THE INITIAL STAGE AND SPOILED THE CASE. THE THEN DIG OF CRIME BRANCH, K.J. JOSEPH (HE HAS RETIRTED AS DGP) WAS AWARE THAT ALL ABOUT THIS AND HE WAS INDIRECTLY SUPPORTING TO TAMPER THE CASE.
I AM SURPRISED TO SEE THAT, THE CHURCH IS SUPPORTING THE CULPRITS. THEY DO NOT FEEL ANY SHY TO COME OUT WITH SLOGALS AND NOTICES JUST LIKE CHEAP POLITICAL PARTIES. IT IS SHAME IT IS SHAME IT IS SHAME.
SUKUMARAN