They gouged out his eyes, broke his skull, tied his hands and tortured for hours. After he died, they threw the body into a canal. His crime: he belonged to Dalit Christian community and married an upper caste Christian girl.
Kevin Joseph, 23, hailed from Kumaranellor in Kottayam district and his wife Neenu Chacko, an Orthodox Christian, belonged to Thenmala in Kollam district. The girl’s relatives were opposed to the marriage as Kevin was a Dalit Christian. The couple got married on May 24 under the Special Marriages Act.
The accused, members of DYFI, the youth-wing of the ruling CPI(M), were relatives of the girl. The accused abducted the victim on May 27. Kevin’s father Joseph complained to the local police station in Gandhi Nagar by 6 am on Sunday itself. Joseph alleged that police ignored his complaint under the pretext that they were busy with the security of the Chief Minister who was in Kottayam on that day. By that afternoon Neenu came to the station and repeated the complaint, but response was the same as Joseph got. By 7 am on Monday, Kevin’s dead body was found in a canal near Thenmala panchayath.
The Police have registered a case against 13 accused including Shanu Chacko, Neenu’s brother. Three of them, Niyaz, Riyaz and Ishan are arrested and the car they travelled is taken into custody. Police moved into action only after the media took up the matter. Police still continue the search for others.
Neenu has stated that when they came to the police station after the register marriage for showing all documents she was told that she would not be sent back to her parents sans her permission. Later on when she came to her in-laws’, police called up her parents and asked them take her back home. She was forcibly taken back, but returned. Then she signed a letter submitted before police authorities; and she was permitted to go with her husband. Her family issued several death threats afterwards, she added.
Aneesh, Kevin’s friend, who was abducted along with Kevin was beaten up by the gang severely and was let go after he agreed to blackmail Neenu and bring her back home. They told him that Kevin had jumped off another car near Pathanapuram on the way to Kollam.
Neenu collapsed hearing the news is undergoing treatment in Kottayam Medical College. The government under fire has suspended the Sub-Inspector of the local police station who refused to take action.
The National Commission for Minorities has sought report from Kerala Director-General of Police and district collector and SPs of Kollam and Kottayam districts. The State Human Rights Commission has also sought a report.
The cold-blooded murder has triggered a national outrage. There is rising demand that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should relinquish home ministry, as the law and order situation has gone from bad to worse ever since he took charge.
According to Kevin’s family members, they had got converted to Christianity thinking that they would escape the ordeal of casteism. But after becoming Christians, they realized that casteism is more severe in Christianity. Initially the church provided financial assistance but after becoming it all stopped.
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