(INDIA)
Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA News) [Hong Kong]
March 18, 2026
By UCA News reporter
Protestant bishop orders CCTV monitoring of all pastoral counselling in a Church of South India diocese
A Protestant bishop in the southern Indian Kerala state has directed all his priests to conduct their pastoral counseling sessions under camera surveillance following the arrest of a pastor accused of assaulting a 19-year-old girl who had approached him for counseling.
Bishop Malayil Sabu Koshy Cherian of the Church of South India’s Madhya (Central) Kerala diocese issued the direction after police arrested Father Santosh Mathew, vicar of the Church in Idukki district, on March 15.
The 53-year-old pastor had been absconding ever since the victim’s family complained to police of sexual assault against him last month.
A police team tracked Mathew to the Catholic Marian pilgrimage center in Velankanni in neighboring Tamil Nadu. A court in Kerala remanded him to 14-day judicial custody.
According to the police complaint, the crime took place on Feb. 7 when the victim, along with her mother, approached Mathew for counselling. He asked her mother to pray inside the Church and took her to the presbytery where he sexually assaulted her, it said.
“Our bishop has instructed that all counselling sessions should be held under the watchful eyes of CCTV cameras,” Father Jiji John Jacob, the diocesan treasurer, told UCA News on March 18.
Jacob clarified that the CCTV recording will be strictly for safety and evidential purposes, and no conversion will be recorded. “The privacy of those seeking counseling will also be protected,” he added.
Meanwhile, the accused pastor has been suspended following his arrest. “We are also holding an internal probe against him to know the truth about the charges against him,” Jacob said.
Father Aniyan K. Paul, the diocesan clergy secretary, said the CSI has a zero-tolerance policy for the sexual abuse of women.
“The diocese will not protect the pastor if he is found guilty,” he noted.
A Church official who did not want to be named told UCA News that the priest had a clean record.
“We will wait for the police to complete the probe, which should reveal the truth behind the serious allegations,” he added.
He said several people within the diocese and in the parish believe the priest has been deliberately trapped in the case to settle personal enmity and family feuds.
The CSI was formed in 1947 after India’s independence from Britain as a union of Protestant denominations. Its counterpart in north India is known as the Church of North India (CNI).
With about 4 million members, CSI is the second-largest Christian denomination in India. It has 24 dioceses, including one in neighboring Sri Lanka.