All the four people accused of killing Keenan Santos, 24, and Reuben Fernandez, 29, at Amboli in Mumbai in 2011 were found guilty by a Mumbai sessions court on Thursday. All the four have been given life imprisonment till death.
The duo, along with their other friends, had left a bar in Amboli around 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 20, 2011 when four drunk men — Jitendra Rana, Sunil Bodh, Satish Dulhaj and Dipak Tival — harassed their female friends. Santos and Fernandez slapped the drunken men to ward them off the women. The group, which had threatened to kill them, later returned. One of them threatened to kill Fernandez and returned with 17 men, who stabbed the two in public.
"After a lot of pain, the court has finally given the verdict what we wanted," Keenan's father, Valerian Santos, was quoted as saying by ANI. "The journey is still not over, we have to go further. They(guilty) will appeal to higher courts, that is their right. Even if they (guilty) go to God, I will still stand in front and ask for justice for my son," the father said.
"I am happy with the life imprisonment to the guilty. They should live every moment thinking about Keenan and Reuben," he added.
Santos had died on the night of the attack. Fernandez succumbed to his injuries 10 days later, the Quint reported.
The case was taken up by a fast-track court in March 2012, following which the police filed a 416-page chargesheet against the accused. The case was taken up on a day-to-day basis in January 2013 for two months by a court in Mumbai, after which it was referred to a special women's court. The trial for the case went on for almost half a decade. It concluded on April 22, and judge Vrushali Joshi gave the verdict on Thursday.
