4 Orthodox church priests in Kerala booked for rape

The crime branch of the Kerala Police on Tuesday registered an FIR against four priests in its probe into allegations of sexual exploitation of a woman by priests of the Kottayam-headquartered Malankara Orthodox Church.

IGP S Sreejith said, “It was true that in the initial news reports there were five priests, but in her (survivor) complaint, only four of them have been named.”

He said that the woman will now be asked to give a statement before a magistrate and then the probe team will decide a further course of action.

“At the moment, arrests of the four might not happen, as there are formalities and procedures to be undertaken,” Sreejith added.

Kerala police chief Loknath Behra had ordered a crime branch probe based on allegations made by the victim’s husband, of the same church.

An online portal had first reported the story last week, following which, pressure from several quarters, especially social media users, mounted on the Church, which then announced an internal probe. The husband, in his allegations, said one of the priests who first exploited his wife was blackmailing her.

When she sought help from another priest, he too, threatened her along with another priest and eventually, she came under the duress from at least five priests, the husband had said. The Kerala police started its probe after the National Commission for Women (NCW) took suo motu cognisance of the case and wrote to Behra, directing him to investigate.

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