Kerala priest who spoke against child abuse arrested for raping minor girl

February 28, 2017

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 28: A priest who spoke against child abuse was arrested in Kerala for alleged rape of a minor which led to her pregnancy, police said on Tuesday.

priestThe 17-year-old gave birth to a baby at a private hospital last month and the accused had shifted both the mother and the newborn to an orphanage in north Kerala’s Wayanad to hush up the incident.

Father Robin Vaddakumchiryil (48), the vicar of St Sebastian church in Kottiyoor, was arrested after the girl narrated the incident to officials of childline, a telephone helpline for children in distress. Childline officials then tipped off police.

The church official had allegedly abused the girl at the computer class provided by the church, police said.

A spokesperson of the Thalasserry diocese said the priest has been taken out of all religious duties.

Police said a DNA test will be held on the priest to ascertain to strengthen the case against him. Police have also booked the private hospital, where she delivered a baby, for not informing police.

“The priest also made an attempt to implicate the girl’s father in the case. Since the family is from an economically weaker section he tried to implicate him and told many about this,” said deputy superintendent of police Prajeesh, who uses only his first name. The priest was planning to travel to Canada to evade arrest, he said.

A police official said the priest was the chief guest at a function organised recently against crime against children. He was also known to have spoken on the issue earlier.

Police quoted the minor as saying that she has been in trauma for the last two years and the priest threatened her not to reveal the incident to anyone. Fearing social stigma, her parents also kept silent. They are also likely to be questioned.

The victim’s family lives near the church and the girl used to visit the church regularly.

The priest has been charged under stringent provisions of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso) and IPC.

The new born was later shifted to a government-run home, said Peravur police inspector N Sunil Kumar, who is investigating the case.

The government had recently decided to fast-track cases related to sexual assault on minors.

Activists say that in most cases of child sexual abuse, the victims are known to the accused.

Data from the National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) show that in 2015, more than 15,000 children faced sexual assault. In more than 8,300 incidents, the accused was known to the child.

Comments

DABBU
 - 
Tuesday, 28 Feb 2017

Gud job padre,,,,,,we need more of it ,,,,u r nothing but a reflection of ur aliance wid the devil...

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April 10,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 10: The Karnataka Education Board on Friday further postponed the annual examination for SSLC to May due to extension of lockdown to arrest spread of coronavirus which is spreading like wildfire in the state.

Minister for Primary and Higher Education S Suresh Kumar also announced that the PUC examination were also postponed to May.

"However, depending upon the situation we will announce the date in May and will inform the students one week earlier of the examination date to give time for preparation,"

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March 28,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 28: The Karnataka government on Saturday said that the state run Indira Canteens would provide food packets free of cost to the poor and needy in the wake of the lockdown, the government said here on Saturday.

The canteens would operate in three schedules -from 7:30 AM to 10 AM, 12:30 PM to 3 PM and 7:30 PM to 9 PM, the government said in a public announcement

During the scheduled hours, street side vendors, labourers and poor would be provided food free of cost.

After the cabinet meeting on Friday, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had said food packets would be provided to the poor and needy with the help of some organisations through the Canteens and had sought the help of everyone in this regard.

The State-sponsored, subsidised 'Indira Canteens' as of now serves breakfast at Rs five and lunch and dinner at Rs 10.

The government asked people availing the facility to maintain cleanliness at the canteen and staff who serve food to compulsorily use masks and hand gloves.

It also said soaps and sanitizers should be made available at the canteens.

The government also asked people to maintain a minimum distance of one metre while standing in queue and take all precautionary measures.

Earlier, a day after announcing that food would be provided free of cost through the canteens for daily wagers, Yediyurappa on March 24 had said it has been decided that the canteens will not be opened, after realizing that it was leading to crowding, which drew criticism.

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March 31,2020

Patna, Mar 31: In arguably the first of its kind incident in the country, a young man in Bihar was beaten to death precisely because he had informed the district control room about two corona suspects who had arrived here in the State from Mumbai.

The incident took place in Sitamarhi in North Bihar where a 20-year-old youth Bablu Kumar was allegedly killed by Sudhir Mahto and Munna Mahto.

The two Mahtos had arrived from Mumbai to Sitamarhi around ten days back. Bablu, in the meantime, informed the district control room about the arrival of two persons from a State where a large number of people were afflicted with coronavirus.

A team of doctors on March 24 reached Runnisaidpur in Sitamarhi to examine the two suspects. Three days later, these two persons from Maharashtra tested negative.

But the incident (of informing control room and subsequent medial test) created such enmity between the family of Mahtos and Babloo that on Sunday when they found the 20-year-old young man sitting alone, they thrashed him so mercilessly that he died on the spot.

Shocked and grief-struck, Babloo’s father Vinod Singh eventually lodged an FIR with the police and named Sudhir Mahto, Munna Mahto, and their family members as accused in the killing of his son.

The police on Monday raided the place and arrested the Mahtos.

But then, this is not an isolated case of violence. In another incident that took place in Bihar’s Jehanabad district, a BDO Ajay Kumar and a police officer Chandrashekhar Kumar were attacked by fellow villagers when the officials reached there to quarantine those migrants who had reached there from Delhi. So angry were the villagers with the officials’ move to isolate the migrants that they smashed the window-panes of the government vehicles and attacked the officials.

The officials had to beat a hasty retreat. But they soon returned with additional police team which used brutal force and took local leaders into custody before restoring normalcy in the area.

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