India, July 13 -- There was a time when hardly any criminal case in Kerala stirred public imagination as deeply as the Madatharuvi murder case. Even today, I would argue that no other murder trial in the State has matched its combination of mystery, drama, religion, law and public fascination.

I was only a high school student then, but I doubt whether anyone followed the case with greater interest than I did. Looking back, I realise that my fascination was not merely with the crime but with the judicial process itself. Long before I entered journalism, I had become an eager student of courts, evidence and justice.

The moment I heard that the body of a young woman, Mariakutty, had been discovered near the Madatharuvi stream, I did somet...