Kozhikode, Feb 18, 2020: A woman in Kerala, who has accused a Catholic priest of raping her three years ago, has accused the police of handling the case “in the most unprofessional manner.”

A 45-year-old woman on February 17 alleged the police are making “serious attempts” to weaken the case. To support her claim, the woman told reporters that the police recorded her statement on December 5, 2019, in the presence of undertrials and others at a police station.

The woman filed her complaint against Father Manoj Jacob Plakootam of the Thamarassery Syro-Malabar diocese alleging that he raped her in June 2017. She said she had complained to the diocese but was advised to hush up the matter. The woman said she later went abroad with her husband and filed the rape complaint upon her return to India on December 4.

The woman said the police recorded her statement in Kozhikode district. “Many people were around and they repeatedly asked the same question to embarrass me. Some undertrials were also there. I was in tears while narrating my plight, but it seems they were enjoying it,” she said. She said some of them indirectly told her it was not good to pursue such cases against “powerful people.”

She accused the Church of letting her down badly and added the police were doing the same. “I really feel there is collusion between the two. The accused was sent abroad for studies deliberately. I have suffered a lot and I will pursue this case come what may,” she said. She added she has faced intimidation and threats.

Father Plakootam, whose bail plea will come up for hearing in the Kerala High Court in the last week of February, is currently in Italy. He filed the plea through his lawyer in January. He had left the country before the case was filed in December.

The local police refused to comment on the issue while top officers said they would not speak until they have the full details of the case.

Thamarassery diocese spokesman Father Mathew Kolaparambil said the Church has stripped Plakootam. The priest was the parish priest of Nitya Sahaya Matha (Perpetual Help Mother) Church in Chevayur when he allegedly raped the woman. The Church was cooperating fully with the police and did not want to comment further, the spokesman added.

Circle Inspector K Shambhunath, who is investigating the case, said the priest was booked under the Indian Penal Code’s Section 376 (rape) in December and efforts were on to trace him.

Sister Jesme, an activist who quit the Congregation of Mother Carmel congregation 10 years ago, noted the country has strict guidelines for recording statements in rape cases. “Her privacy should be guarded at any cost. This is really shocking. What else you expect when money and muscle power come together,” she added.

Activist and psychologist Mala Parvati said in many cases often police officers find fault with the victim first not the accused. “There are strict guidelines to protect them from further embarrassment but they remain only on paper. Repeated harassment at police stations often forces some to withdraw their complaints. This is nothing in new even in a state like Kerala.”

The Thamarassery rape case surfaced a year and a half after a Catholic nun in Kerala filed a case against Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar in Punjab. The bishop was arrested in September 2018 but was released after three weeks. The trial, in this case, is set to begin from February 26 even as Mulakkal moved court in January with a plea to have the charges against him dropped.

Source: hindustantimes.com