A special court in Kerala in southern India has acquitted an Orthodox priest and 18 others of murder charges. (Photo: Unsplash)
A special court in southern India has acquitted 19 people, including an Orthodox priest, of murder charges following a two-decade-long legal battle.
The special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Kochi in Kerala state quashed murder charges against Father Varghese Thekkekakkara from the Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, and 18 others on April 24.
They had been accused of involvement in the murder of TM Varghese, a member of the rival Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, in 2002 in Perumbavoor in Kerala's Ernakulam district, who was hacked to death.
Their acquittal did not go down well with the Malankara Orthodox Church, which is planning to challenge the acquittal in the state's top court, one of its officials said.
“We are disappointed with the ruling,” said Father Mohan Joseph, the Malankara Orthodox Church's public relations officer.
“We will continue our legal fight until [TM] Varghese gets justice,” Father Joseph told UCA News on April 25.
The CBI, a federal law enforcement agency, investigated the case following an order from the Kerala High Court and concluded the priest and the others had committed the murder. However, the court did not agree with the findings and acquitted all the accused.
The murder, according to the CBI, was over a century-old dispute within the indigenous Malankara Church.
Varghese was a member of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the accused were with the rival Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church.
Thekkekakkara, according to the CBI, was involved in a conspiracy to murder Varghese and sought the help of a gang to kill him.
However, the reason why Varghese was specifically targeted remains unclear.
"We do not know why he was killed. But according to the police and the CBI investigation reports he was killed because of the Church rivalry as he was a member of the high power committee of our Church. He was never involved in politics. We want justice for him and those who killed him should be punished. This is our demand,” Biju Oommen, secretary of the Malankara Orthodox Church told UCA News on April 26.
The rivalry in the Malankara Church, a branch of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch, led to a split in 1911 with the establishment of the Malankara Orthodox Church with its supreme head based in Kerala, while the Jacobites owed their allegiance to the patriarch of Antioch.
The dispute escalated with both sides claiming rights over Church properties. In 1934, they came together and agreed on a common constitution and elected the Catholicos of the east as the common head.
However, they again split in 1973 over properties. India’s Supreme Court in 2017 delivered a verdict in favor of the Orthodox faction, which was opposed by the rival Jacobite wing.
As the Jacobite faction would lose control over properties, the communist government in Kerala proposed a law to end the dispute instead of complying with the court order.
But the Orthodox side is insisting on following the court order, meaning the dispute is ongoing with no end in sight.
