Kerala sex-for-silence case: Two priests surrender before a local court after Supreme Court dismisses anticipatory bail

Two priests from the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church accused of raping and blackmailing a woman in Kerala have surrendered before a local court, after a Supreme Court order.

Father Abraham Varghese alias Sony surrendered before a court at Thiruvalla while Father Jaise K George at the crime branch office in Kollam on Monday morning, the police said.

On 6 August, the Supreme Court had dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of the two priests. The apex court division bench, headed by Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri, asked both the accused priests to surrender before the police by 13 August. A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan had said the two priests were at liberty to seek regular bail once they surrendered.

On 26 July, the Supreme Court had asked for a status report from the Kerala government up to 27 August, regarding the case of rape and molestation against four Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church priests.

The Kerala High Court had on 25 July granted conditional bail to Job Mathew, the second accused. Granting the bail, Justice V Rajavijaya Raghavan directed the priest to appear before the investigating officer twice a week and not to influence the witnesses or tamper with the evidence. Job, a vicar of a local church, was also directed not to leave the country.

Job was arrested after he surrendered before the police in Thiruvalla on 12 June. He has been accused of sexually assaulting the woman since 2009 by misusing her confession.

It was on the basis of the statement given by a woman belonging to the same church, accusing them of sexually assaulting her on many occasions. The high court had earlier granted bail to another priest and third accused Johnson V Mathew, a counsellor of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, who was arrested on 13 July.

Seven people have also been questioned by the police in Punjab’s Jalandhar city in connection with the case. Kottayam’s deputy superintendent of police, K Subhash said, “More people will be questioned regarding the case. We will also go to Amritsar for investigation purposes while Bishop Franco Mulakkal will not be questioned on Monday.”

The incident came to light after an audio clip of the purported conversation of the husband of the victim with a church official about the alleged sexual abuse of his wife by the priests was circulated on social media. The woman’s husband had last month accused the priests of using his wife’s secret confession to “blackmail and sexually abuse”.

With inputs from agencies