Feature Image Credit: WSJ
Another case of a Christian pastor molesting a minor girl in Kerala has emerged, wherein a 74-year-old Christian pastor named Mathew is a resident of Mukaddam near Konnathady in Idukki district was arrested by the Kunnathunad police in Ernakulam district.
According to the police, the crime took place in January and the girl’s mother who came to know about the incident filed a complaint in Kunnathunad police station. The accused pastor, who according to police, goes around houses preaching religious matters, was arrested from Konnathady on Saturday as per reports.
Pastor Mathew has now been charged with various provisions under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, said police. “We cannot reveal other details on where the alleged crime took place or other details as that would reveal the identity of the child,” an official of Kunnathunad police station said.
The accused has now been remanded to judicial custody by the court.
However, this is not the first case of a priest or a pastor sexually assaulting perishaners. In Ocotber 2020, a vicar of a Jacobite Syrian church in Idukki was arrested by the police for allegedly sexually assaulting a 22-year-old woman.
The women had approached him for Ayurveda treatment and Fifty-five-year-old Fr Reji Palakkadan an Ayurvedic practitioner whose firm was not officially registered was arrested.
In 2019, Father George Padayattil, the vicar of Holy Cross Church in Chendamangalam of the Syro Malabar Church in Ernakulam district was booked for allegedly assaulting three 9-year-old girls.
He was Sixty-eight-year-old when he had allegedly abused the girl while they visited the priest in his residential area adjacent to the church.
In another shocking case of taking advantage of the young and the innocent, a Christain priest, Father George TJ, alias Jerry in Kochi, who was heading boys home, was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing six minor boys who resided in the place.
Father George TJ, was the director of the boys’ home in Kochi run by Carmelites order, under the Diocese of Cochin.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.