Kerala Church Sex Scandal Case: Two Priests Accused Of Raping, Blackmailing Woman Surrender in Local Court

Thirvalla, August 13: The two Kerala priests who were accused of sexually abusing and blackmailing a married woman for years, have surrendered before a local court on Monday. After the Kerala High Court rejected their anticipatory bail, both the priests-Father Sony Varghese (Abraham Varghese) and Father Jaise K George of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, had approached the Supreme Court for the same. The priests were told by the Apex court to surrender before the local court by August 13.

Both the priests surrendered before a court in Thirvalla district today. A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan had earlier said the two priests were at liberty to seek regular bail once they surrendered. According to a report by PTI, the counsel for victim alleged that some videos were uploaded by the accused on the Internet and they used the same to blackmail her.

Four priests attached to the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church were accused of sexually abusing a 34-year-old married woman by using her confessional statement. While two of the accused had surrendered, two priests were before the court seeking anticipatory bail in the case. On July 19, the two priests -- Father Sony Verghese and Father Jaise K George -- were granted protection from arrest by the apex court till it pronounced a verdict on their anticipatory bail pleas.

On the basis of a statement given by the woman belonging to the same church, the Crime Branch of the Kerala Police had on July 2 registered a case against Father Varghese and three other priests. The woman accused the four priests of sexually assaulting her on many occasions.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 13, 2018 12:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).