Sexual abuse charges rock Kerala churches
Police have begun investigations, with clergy’s handling of complaints criticised on social media
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Two prominent churches in Kerala have over the last few days been rocked by allegations of sexual abuse, triggering police investigations and a wave of criticism directed at church leaders on social media.
The Syro-Malabar Church, which had been struggling to shake off a controversy involving Cardinal George Alencherry in a land sale scam, finds itself in the spotlight once more after a nun alleged that a bishop had sexually abused her multiple times. The bishop also filed a police complaint against the nun.
In the Malankara Orthodox church, a man alleged that five priests had been sexually abusing his wife over many months, and that he had asked his wife to stay with her parents after he came to know of the scandalous episodes.
Significantly, in both cases the affected parties initially filed complaints with church authorities but the cases came to light only after the victims felt that the church authorities were not giving them a fair hearing.
The nun from Syro-Malabar Church complained to the superintendent of police of Kottayam district that she had been abused by a bishop, who is now in Jalandhar, Punjab, as many as 13 times between 2014 and 2016.
She said she had appraised cardinal George Alencherry about the matter about six months ago, and that no action had been forthcoming from the church.
The nun alleged that the abuses took place at the guest house of the church in Kuravilangad, a small town about 40km from Kottayam.
However, the bishop has denied the charge, and has said that the nun’s complaint had arisen out of personal vendetta because he had taken disciplinary action against her following complaints from multiple sources.
Police will probe both complaints. Notably, it was the bishop who first filed the complaint against the nun.
In the case of the Malankara Orthodox Church, church authorities have halted the five priests accused of abusing the married woman from performing their church duties.
In his complaint submitted at the church’s headquarters in Kottayam, the aggrieved husband said the priests had blackmailed his wife using some intimate pictures they had of her.
Police have begun investigations into both cases, and a large number of netizens have taken to social media, criticising the manner in which such serious charges from the laity have been kept aside by the clergy without informing the police.