Published Jan 24, 2025 | 12:10 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 24, 2025 | 12:16 PM
Abhimanyu. (File photo)
The Principal Sessions Court Ernakulam in Kerala will commence the trial in the murder case of Abhimanyu, a former student of Maharaja’s College, on Friday, 24 January,
Advocate Mohanraj will be serving as the Special Public Prosecutor. Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court will hear a plea filed by Abhimanyu’s mother Bhoopathi, highlighting the prolonged delay in proceedings.
The 19-year-old Students’ Federation of India (SFI) leader, a BSc Chemistry student, was stabbed to death in Maharaja’s College Ernakulam on 2 July 2018 allegedly by activists of the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI), its student organisation Campus Front of India and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).
Four other students also sustained fatal injuries during the attack. Abhimanyu hailed from an Adivasi community in the remote village of Vattavada in Idukki district.
The trial in the case has faced numerous setbacks, even though the charge sheet was filed six years ago. Although the preliminary trial began in 2019, the accused could not be brought together in court during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Additionally, the charge sheet and related documents went missing from the trial court in 2019, an issue discovered only in September 2023.
Following this, the documents had to be reconstructed under the high court’s directives, contributing further to the delay.
Reports had suggested that the initial hearing would begin in October last year, but it did not materialise. Summoning witnesses has added to the challenges, as all 25 student witnesses have since left Maharaja’s College, with some moving abroad for studies or work.
Issuing summons and ensuring their attendance might lead to further delays in the trial.
A case was registered under sections 143, 147, 341, 323, 324, 326, 307, 302, 506(ii), 201, 120(B) read with 149 of IPC, and the charge sheet was initially laid before the Judicial Magistrate of First Class-II, Ernakulam on 24 September 2018 naming 16 people. All 16 were later arrested.
Abhimanyu was allegedly murdered over removing a poster of Campus Front from the college sidewall and writing “Vargeeyatha Thulayatte” (Death to Communalism) on the same space.
(With inputs from Sreelakshmi Soman.)
