Kerala sex-for-silence case: One of the 4 Syrian Orthodox priests accused of sexually abusing woman surrenders in Kollam

Kollam: One of the four Malankara Syrian Orthodox priests, accused of sexually abusing a woman, surrendered before the police in Kollam on Thursday. [caption id="" align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Father Job Mathew, the second accused in the case, surrendered before the Crime Branch office in Kollam and is being questioned, police sources said. The surrender comes a day after the Kerala High Court dismissed anticipatory bail pleas of three priests, observing they acted as “predators” and took “undue advantage” of the woman. The priests— Abraham Varghese alias Sony, Job Mathew and Jaise K George had approached the court soon after the Crime Branch of Kerala Police slapped rape charges against four of the five church priests. In their bail applications, the priests rejected the woman’s allegations that they had sexually assaulted her. They alleged that the case was registered against them “solely at the instance of the political pressure exerted by certain vested interests to derive political mileage”. The crime branch has registered an FIR against the priests after recording the victim’s statement. Last month, the woman’s husband had accused the five priests of using his wife’s confession to ‘blackmail’ and ‘sexually abuse’ her. The incident had come to light after an audio clip containing the man’s purported conversation with a church official alleging sexual abuse of his wife by the priests was widely circulated on social media. Veteran CPI(M) leader and chairman of Kerala Administrative Reforms Commission V S Achuthanandan and the National Commission for Women had written to State DGP Loknath Behara, demanding a probe into the charges.