INDIA
The Times of India
TNN | Apr 21, 2016
Udhagamandalam: Fr Jeyapaul Joseph Palanivel, the priest with a history of child sexual abuse charges and now accused of sexually abusing an American woman, has been given a residence by the Ootacamund diocese which refuses to divulge where he is.
“We cannot disclose the whereabouts of Fr Jeyapaul Joseph Palanivel,” said diocese spokesman Fr Sebastian Selvanathan on Wednesday.
He also refused to divulge the whereabouts of Ooty bishop A Amalraj.
Jeyapaul, who served as a priest in Crookston township of Minnesota in 2004 and 2005, was arrested in India in 2012 on charges of sexually abusing two girls in a congregation. He was extradited to the US. After serving his sentence for a year and one day, he was deported to India last year. Recently, advocacy group SNAP (Survivors Net work of those Abused by Priests) announced that one of the sexual abuse survivors in the US has sued the priest and the diocese.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) said the bishop of Ooty has not had any communication with them over the reinstatement of Jeyapaul. “Any priest facing allegations will be dismissed immediately and if allegations are found to be true legally, the church will defrock the priest,” said CBCI public relations officer Gyan Prakash Topno.
The Ooty diocese spokesman, meanwhile, said he was unaware of the sexual abuse charge by the American woman. Vidya Reddy of Tulir, Centre for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, said if an institution was assisting in a cover up, it should also be considered guilty.
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