No secret trial, entry allowed for media: Court rejects petition of defendants in Abhimanyu case

KOCHI: The court ruled against holding a secret trial in the case concerning the murder of Abhimanyu, a former SFI leader at Ernakulam Maharaja's College. The Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court dismissed the defense's petition seeking to conduct the trial behind closed doors. The trial is scheduled to begin on the 15th of next month.

The accused had requested that journalists, the public, and relatives be denied entry to the courtroom. Judge KK Balakrishnan dismissed the petition, accepting the prosecution's argument that reporting on the trial is a right of the media. The accused, activists of the Campus Front and Popular Front, had approached the court seeking a closed-door trial.

A public trial is set to begin at the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court next month. The High Court directed that the trial be completed within four months.

Abhimanyu (20), a second-year Chemistry student at Maharaja's College and an SFI unit secretary, was stabbed to death near the college hostel on July 2, 2018. 16 accused—activists associated with Campus Front, Popular Front, and SDPI—are facing a direct trial in the case.