Kevin P Joseph was killed after he applied to register his marriage to Neenu Chacko from a higher caste

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A court in Kerala has sentenced 10 men to life in prison for the killing of a Christian from India’s lowest dalit caste who wanted to marry a woman from a higher caste.

Kevin P Joseph, a 23-year-old electrician, was killed in May last year, two days after he applied to register his marriage with Neenu Chacko, 21, also a Christian.

The convicted men included the prospective bride’s brother Sanu Chacko, who was accused of returning to Kottayam in Kerala from his job in the Gulf to take part in the murder of Joseph.

The judges described the crime as a clear case of an “honour” killing and said the only reason why they were not handing out death sentences was on account of the age of the accused and the fact that it was their first offence.

In court Neenu Chacko heard details of how Joseph was abducted and killed. She testified against her relatives. “This is a fight for Kevin,” she told the media during the trial.

The couple began dating in 2016 after meeting at a bus stop on the way to a college in Kottayam where Chacko was doing a post-graduate course in geology and Joseph worked as an electrician.

On 24 May 2018 the couple applied for civil marriage. Four days later, Joseph’s body was found in a stream. The court heard that Neenu Chacko’s father – known as Chacko – had allegedly hired assassins with the help of a local politician. He was acquitted on murder charges for lack of evidence.

Dalits suffer relatively less discrimination and social ostracism in the southern Indian state of Kerala than elsewhere in the country. Kerala has a relatively egalitarian society and an affirmative action programme that improves the social mobility of low-caste residents.

But inter-caste marriage remains taboo for many people.

Indian media quoted Joseph’s father as saying that although he would have preferred the death sentence for the 10 men, he was satisfied with the life sentence.

He said he had not called Chacko after the verdict and sentencing, saying she had been through enough and that he wanted to allow her to continue her studies in peace.