There's Something About Jolly!

The case of Kerala’s newest serial killer, Jollyamma Joseph, has shaken the country. Asha Prakash investigates the case and speaks to a forensic expert for more clarity…

- Asha Prakash

Serial killers are not new to Kerala; it was in early 2018 that Soumya from Pinarayi, Kannur, was found to have poisoned her nine-year-old daughter and parents to death, in order to live with her lover. But there was something about the Koodathayi case, or the Jollyamma Joseph aka Jolly case, which made the entire State stop whatever they were doing, sit up and take notice. Was it because she managed to con an entire neighborhood into believing that she was a churchgoing, loving and jovial mother and wife, while quietly murdering her husband and five of her in-laws over a period of 17 years? Or that she pretended to be professor at the prestigious NIT Calicut for 10+ years? Whatever it was; Jolly filled pages of every daily for weeks. Countless trolls erupted on how husbands in Kerala suddenly turned meek and loving towards their wives while a group of school children called to Jolly on the street as she was being led to the police station — ‘Jollychechi, kurachu cyanide edukkanundo?’ (Got some cyanide?)

The charge sheet of the case is yet to be filed, and so far, the only proof that 47-year-old Jolly is the only one behind all six deaths is that she herself admitted to them. At the same time, numerous terms have been thrown around to describe Jolly — mentally ill; borderline psychopath; a smooth criminal; a very clever but completely normal woman, and more. So what is someone like Jolly, actually? Mebin Wilson, assistant professor and researcher at the Forensic Science Dept., Jain University, analyses.

“Jolly’s is an extremely interesting case, primarily,” says Mebin. “She is worth a detailed study which will help future investigations.”