The Kerala High Court has directed the District and Sessions Court, Ernakulam, to wrap up the trial in the Abhimanyu murder case within four months.

Justice Kauser Edappagath was considering a petition filed by Abhimanyu’s mother, Bhoopathi, seeking a directive to the trial court to expedite the proceedings in the case. She stated that the High Court had on January 24, 2025, directed the sessions court to dispose of the case within nine months.

Abhimanyu murder case in Kerala: Sessions court orders all 16 accused to appear before it on August 10

The court had further extended the time frame by three months on a request of the sessions court on October 31, 2025.

Abhimanyu was stabbed to death alleged by activists of the Campus Front of India and the Popular Front of India on the Maharajas College campus in 2018.

The case involves 16 accused, seven eyewitnesses, and 50 witnesses. During the hearing before the sessions judge on July 6, the accused had pleaded not guilty. The accused have been charged with murder, causing hurt with dangerous weapons, criminal intimidation, destruction of evidences, rioting and unlawful assembly.

The police had filed the chargesheet in September 2018. The delay in trial has been attributed to the time taken by the accused to file their statements, production of the absconding accused, and reconstruction of the missing court records. The High Court had ordered the reconstruction of crucial documents such as the chargesheet, post-mortem examination report, and witness statements, which had been found missing from the court’s custody.