(INDIA)
Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA News) [Hong Kong]
April 24, 2023
Elderly priest is charged under stringent provisions of a law meant to protect children from sexual abuse
Police in a southern Indian state have arrested a 77-year-old priest of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church for allegedly molesting a young girl.
The priest identified as Shimayon Ramban was arrested and remanded in judicial custody on April 21.
The priest is charged under various provisions of a special law meant to protect children from sexual abuse in India.
Police said the priest based in Kerala state was arrested following allegations that he had molested a 15-year-old girl on April 3 in a church in Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district.
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, also known as the Indian Orthodox Church, is one of seven churches that trace their faith to St. Thomas the Apostle, who, according to a tradition, preached in India. The Church has set up a panel to probe the allegations and has restricted Father Ramban from exercising his priestly ministry.
“We have ordered an internal probe against the priest,” said Rony Varghese, a trustee of the Church.
“The priest has also been restricted from exercising his priestly ministry and has been put under suspension until his name is cleared of the alleged charges,” Varghese told UCA News on April 24.
The accused priest was suffering from mental illness and had been under medication since 2020 and thus, he was not acting in any official position, Varghese added.
“The priest came to Muvattupuzha at the invitation of the local parish priest,” he added.
In June 2018, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church suspended five priests in the wake of allegations that they sexually abused a mother of two children by using her confession secrets to blackmail her.
The scandal erupted when an audio clip of a telephone conversation, purportedly between the woman’s husband and a church official, went viral on social media.