Keenan-Reuben murder: 4 men found guilty, sentenced to life in jail

Mangalore Today News Network

Mumbai May 05, 2016 : Five years after two young men, Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandez, were killed on a Mumbai street while trying to save their women friends from harassment, four men have been held guilty of murder.

A special women’s court that held all accused guilty has sentenced them to life in jail.

Keenan, 24, and Reuben, 29, were attacked outside a popular eatery in Amboli in Mumbai’s Andheri on October 20, 2011. They had stepped in when their friends were being harassed by a group.

After retreating initially, the group came back to the spot with over 10 people and repeatedly stabbed the two as a crowd of almost 50 bystanders watched without helping them.

Keenan died on the same day, Reuben died 10 days later.

"It takes nearly five years to get justice for a boy who has done something good in society. We have to beg for justice," Keenan’s father Valerian Santos told NDTV before today’s verdict.

The four convicts had been arrested after the incident and charged for murder and molestation. Several others who were arrested were charged with rioting but released on bail.

The case moved to a fast-track court in March 2012, but the prosecution took a year to frame charges. The trial finally began in January 2013, only to be transferred to a women’s court two years later.

Keenan’s father had said that only life sentence for the killers would provide closure to the two families.

"They should be given life imprisonment till death. Only then will they understand our suffering. We will suffer till our last breath," he had said.