KOTTAYAM (KERALA, INDIA)
NDTV
July 11, 2018
By Sneha Mary Koshy
Her horrifying story was exposed last month when an audio clip of her husband complaining to a church official was circulated online
Three of the four Kerala priests accused of raping a woman for years failed to get protection from arrest today with the high court observing that the priests appeared to have “acted as predators”. The judge said there was no reason for the court to ignore the version of the 34-year-old woman who had given a graphic description of how he was threatened and forced to succumb to the priests.
The four priests, based at the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in Kottayam, are on the run.
The three priests had filed the petition to seek the shield against arrest as soon as the police registered a case against them.
“Since then, our focus has been on collecting preliminary evidence to challenge their bail petition in court,” a senior police officer told NDTV.
Her horrifying story was exposed last month when an audio clip of her husband complaining to a church official was circulated online.
The woman, who also impleaded in the case, said her religious beliefs were misused by the church. The woman’s husband said that she was caught in a vicious cycle of sexual exploitation and blackmail.
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