INDIA
Huffington Post
A magazine backed by the Catholic Sabha in Kerala has put out an article that not only victim-shames a minor girl a priest allegedly raped and impregnated, but also attempts to absolve the church of any wrongdoing in the criminal act.
Dhanya Rajendran, writing for the News Minute, reported that the Sunday Shalom, a Christian weekly newspaper published in Malayalam and English, decided to put the onus of blame on the 16-year-old survivor, rather than on alleged sexual predator Father Robin or Mathew Vadakkancheril. Read what it had to say:
“Here, the girl is above the age of 15. Let me tell you this, as I consider you like my daughter – you are also at fault. Before the Lord, it is you who will have to answer first. Daughter, why did you forget who a priest is? He has a human body and has temptations. He may have forgotten his position for a few seconds, my child who has taken the Holy Communion, why didn’t you stop or correct him?”
PTI added that the police in Kerala on Sunday intensified the search to trace seven accused, including five nuns and a doctor, who are on the run since the arrest of the Catholic priest. The five nuns and the gynaecologist of the church-run hospital, where the 16-year-old girl delivered a boy, continued to evade arrest. The search conducted for the second day on Sunday failed to yield any result, investigating officer Sunil Kumar told Press Trust of India. A helper, Thangamma, is among the accused absconding, he said.
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