On Saturday, a rape survivor from Kerala moved the Supreme Court seeking permission to marry former Catholic priest Robin Vadakkumchery who is the convict in the case.
Vadakkumchery was sentenced to 20 years in prison after a judge found him guilty of raping and impregnating a minor in February 2019. Following this, the Church took procedures to remove him from the priesthood, and in 2020, he was excommunicated.
Vadakkuncheril worked as a priest in a church, and the girl was from a Catholic home. The girl, who had just completed her Class 10 examinations at the time, went to Vadakkuncheril’s parsonage for some parish data-entry work in May 2016. The priest took the girl to his bedroom and raped her in the afternoon, while the other girls were away. After telling her not to tell anyone about the incident, he allowed her to go home. In front of her family, the girl remained silent. Every day, she went to school and mass at the local church. No one seemed to notice that she had become pregnant as a result of the rape.
The girl suffered significant abdominal pain on February 7, 2017, and was taken to a local hospital, where she was directed to Christu Raja Hospital, Koothuparamba, in Kannur, which is run by nuns of the Sacred Heart Congregation. The girl was discovered to be pregnant during the examination, and she gave birth as a result. She told her mother about the incident at the parsonage, and the family took it up with Vadakkuncheril, who promised to cover the Rs 30,000 medical bill.
Vadakkunchery was arrested in Kochi in February 2017 after a series of failed cover-up attempts. The rape victim has now petitioned the Supreme Court to marry the Christian priest who raped her. The court agreed to hear the case on Monday (Aug 2).
(with inputs from IndianExpress)
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