Sex assault: Vatican pardons TN priest convicted of rape

Times of India
February 15, 2016

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Sex-assault-Vatican-pardons-TN-priest-convicted-of-rape/articleshow/50991895.cms

NEW DELHI: The Roman Catholic church has lifted the suspension of a Tamil Nadu priest convicted last year of sexually assaulting a 14 year-old girl in the US more than a decade ago, a spokesman said on Saturday .

The suspension of Rev Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul was lifted last month after the bishop of the Ootacamund Diocese in Tamil Nadu consulted with church authorities at the Vatican, said Rev. Sebastian Selvanathan, a spokesman for the diocese.Bishop Arulappan Amalraj of Ootacamund (Ooty) had referred Jeyapaul's case to the Vatican's 'congregation for the doctrine of the faith', and the suspension was lifted on the church body's advice, he added. The Vatican office of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith declined immediate comment.

Jeyapaul was sent to Minnesota in 2004. He was suspended in 2010 after being charged with sexually assaulting two girls who were both 14 at the time.

Arrested in 2012, Jeyapaul pleaded guilty to molesting one of the teenagers who hasn't been identified publicly.