By Philip Varghese. Photographs By Azad Shrivastav
2011 Keenan-Reuben Murder Case
Five years, after Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandez were attacked and killed while trying to shield their female friends from a group of eve-teasers outside a popular eatery in Amboli, the Special Women’s Court on Monday adjourned the verdict in the case till May 5.
During the hearing, the prosecution led by Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Ujjwal Nikam had said that the four accused first made lewd comments at the girls in the group. The two youngsters objected and had a scuffle with the accused. The four left the spot and soon returned with more persons and conspired to kill the two boys.
There are nine witnesses in the case, including the friends of the deceased, a coconut water vendor, a paan shop owner and the waiters of the restaurant.
Speaking before the court's proceedings, SPP Nikam said, “The prosecution had examined more than 30 witnesses, including the girl who was eve-teased and other two eyewitnesses. However, it is very difficult to say what the court is going to deliver the judgment. But I am very optimistic, because it was vehemently argued by the defence that the accused are not guilty and the charges are false. We completely denied those arguments as it was a deliberate murder. Let us see what court decides now.”
Nikam further added, “This is one of the most tragic incidents. Our case is that on the day of the murder (October 20, 2011), three young girls were taking their meals in a public restaurant along with their friends in Amboli. When those girls were going to the washroom, the four accused people found the girls alone and tried to eve-tease them. The moment these girls shouted, their friends – Kennan and Reuben came there and they asked explanation from the four accused as to why they were eve-teasing the girls. The four accused left the spot and returned back with more men and repeatedly stabbed the two young boys mercilessly.”
Speaking after the hearing on Monday, Keenan's father Valerian Santos said, “We have suffered a lot in these years. We know that our son will not come back but we expect his killers to get punished. They should be at least sentenced to life time imprisonment if not death. Our family has full faith in judiciary and we will get justice. The government should think about victim’s family. We were given promises by then chief minister but everything turned out to be farce. There is a need to change the overall system.”
ONE OF THE FIRST CASES AT THE SPECIAL WOMENS COURT...
Interestingly, when the order will be pronounced on Thursday, it will be one of the early cases to have been tried by the Special Womens Court which is housed inside the Sessions Court premise in South Mumbai. This court has all woman staff and this case was transferred to this court in early 2013 when one of the eyewitnesses in his case Avinash Bali filed an application seeking transfer of the case to a court handled by all women staff reasoning that the crucial witnesses in the case are females who were harrassed and inapproriately touched by the accused and they would be able to depose in a 'free atmosphere' only before a lady judge.
THE KEENAN AND REUBEN CASE
It will be recalled that on October 20, 2011 Keenan (24) and Reuben (29) were allegedly attacked by four accused Jitendra Rana, Sunil Bodh, Satish Dulhaj and Dipak Tival outside a restaurant in Amboli when they tried to shield their female friends from a group of eve-teasers. The group had stabbed the two wherein Keenan died on the same day, Reuben died later on October 30, 2011. The four accused were arrested the next day and a fasttrack court had in October framed charges against them for murder, conspiracy and molestation.