In a shocking incident, 68-year-old Father George Padayattil, the vicar of Holy Cross Church in Chendamangalam, has been booked for inappropriately touching three 9-year-old girls.
As the child welfare committee approached the local police in Kerala, alleging that Padayattil had sexually assaulted three 9-year-old girls, the police officials registered the case.
So What Happened?
While sharing the details, the police informed media:
“The incidents happened last month when the girls went to the priest’s ‘meda’, the place where he stays alongside the church, to get his blessings after Sunday rites. According to the complaint, the girls revealed that he touched them inappropriately during two such incidents.”
As per the sources, after the accused tried to take advantage of the girls, one of them gathered the courage to share the horrific incident with her school teacher. The police said:
“The teacher informed Childline officials and we received a complaint through the child welfare committee.”
After the school collectively informed the parents of these three girls, the case was filed. The police official further shared:
“The children gave their statement to the judicial magistrate under oath. The case was charged after that. We are waiting to receive a copy of the statement, following which we will increase the charges against him.”
Though Padayattil is currently booked under section 10 (Punishment for aggravated sexual assault) and Section 11 (Sexual harassment) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he is currently absconded.
But this isn’t the first incident. In fact, earlier in July, another priest from Kerala was held for sexually exploiting minor boys at an orphanage.
With the increasing number of these unfortunate incidents, Pope Francis recently passed a measure to oblige those who know of any sexual abuse taking place in the Catholic church, and to alert their superiors about the same.
After the global pedophilia scandal that came into light in various countries like Germany, Australia, etc., the Pope pledged justice for victims of clerical sex abuse and described these child abusers as one of the “horrific” crimes.
