The Kozhikode Special Additional Sessions Court (Marad cases) will consider a petition moved by second accused in the Koodathayi serial murder case M.S. Mathew to stop the screening of documentary Curry and Cyanide-The Jolly Joseph Case on Netflix on February 3.
The hearing, expected to begin on Monday, was postponed by Judge S.R. Syamlal, while considering the bail petition of the accused.
Mathew moved the petition on January 16 alleging that the circulation of fake information related to the case in the form of serials and television reports was unfair and illegal even before the verdict was pronounced.
In his petition, he argued that a Malayalam television channel and few online media channels were largely involved in telecasting false and objectionable content related to the incident and the case. He claimed it was creating a wrong impression in the minds of viewers with misleading narratives in the name of fiction.
A few months ago, a team of forensic experts too had expressed similar concerns over the featuring of key witnesses and investigating officers in the Netflix series ignoring the ongoing trial. According to them, it was setting a wrong precedent.
Mathew moved the court after the film directed by Christo Tomy and premiered on the OTT platform in December 2023 drew wide attention. The team behind the production is, however, maintaining silence.
In a similar complaint, the Kerala High Court had earlier stayed the telecasting of a Malayalam serial based on the incident. The order was issued in 2020 on a complaint filed by one of the witnesses who alleged that the practice was illegal. The court had even sought the views of the State government and the police on the same.
It was between 2002 and 2016 that the chain of suspected murders took place in Koodathayi village in Kozhikode. Jolly Joseph is the prime accused in the case. The first victim was Jolly’s mother-in-law Annamma Thomas, who died in 2002. Six years later, Jolly’s father-in-law Tom Thomas died of ‘heart failure’. In 2011, her husband Roy died under suspicious circumstances.
In 2014, Annamma’s brother Mathew Manchadiyil was found dead. The other two suspected victims were Sily, wife of Shaju Zachariya, who is Roy’s cousin and Jolly’s second husband, and Sily’ one-year-old daughter Alphine. The two died under mysterious circumstances in 2016.
A probe was launched into the suspicious murders on a complaint by Rojo Thomas, the youngest son of Tom Thomas. On October 5, a special investigation team arrested Jolly along with two others who were accused of murdering the six by serving them poison-laced food to gain control over family properties.
