Bengaluru: The defrocking process of Kerala priest Robin Vadakkumchery has now been completed, bringing an end to the 2016 case of a minor’s rape that saw many a twists over three years.
On Sunday, the Catholic Diocese of Mananthavady issued a statement that Pope Francis’s 5 December 2019 decree to defrock the Syro-Malabar Church priest was handed over to him, who accepted and signed it, completing the procedure.
The Pope’s move came after the Thalassery POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court sentenced the former priest to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment on three separate counts last year.
The case
In 2016, Father Robin Vadakkumchery was posted as the vicar of St Sebastian Parish in Kottiyoor, attached to the Catholic Diocese of Mananthavady (Wayanad) in Kannur. He also served as the manager of a school in Kottiyoor, run by the same parish.
It was at this school where the victim, who was a student, came in contact with him. He raped her several times over the year and then impregnated her.
The case came to light when the victim delivered a baby on 7 February 2017 at the Christu Raj Hospital in Koothuparamba, Kannur, run by the parish Vadakkumchery was attached to.
The case fought for two years saw several twists, including the victim claiming that her biological father was the rapist, and that she wanted to set up a family with the priest.
However, the Peravoor police’s “watertight case” and a government doctor’s statement that established that the victim was a minor, which meant any sexual relations with her amounted to rape, sealed Vadakkumchery’s fate, a police officer associated with the case told ThePrint over the phone.
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The first twist
The case surfaced, in what became the first twist, when officials of Childline, a Government of India helpline service, received a tip-off on 27 February 2017. The anonymous letter sent to Childline named Robin Vadakkumchery as the man behind the sexual assault.
The police rushed to the Kottiyoor church to question the priest and found that he was planning to escape to Canada. He was arrested as a prime suspect in the case on 28 February 2017. Along with him, seven others were booked under the POCSO Act for allegedly helping him cover up the incident.
In its case against the other accused, the police laid out during the trial how this worked.
When the victim delivered the baby, church officials and hospital authorities tried to keep the case under wraps, according to the police. The victim was first taken to a hospital run by the church. Hospital administrator Ancy Mathew helped admit her. In-house gynaecologists Dr Tessy Jose and Thankamma Nelliyani assisted in the delivery of the baby, while paediatrician Dr Hyder Ali handled the discharge. Nelliyani, Dr Liz Maria and Sr. Anita from Christu Raj convent later took the baby to Wayanad, where Sr. Ophelia of the Holy Infant Mary Orphanage facilitated its admission to the institution, the police told the court.
While the police made serious charges against these accused under POCSO Act, they were discharged as the prosecution failed to prove the case against them.
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The second twist
When the Peravoor police began questioning the family members, the father of the victim revealed that he realised his daughter had been sexually exploited only when she complained of a severe stomach ache. Medical investigations revealed the minor was pregnant. The victim’s parents kept her in the dark and told her that she was being operated for appendicitis.
This is where the second twist in the case played out — the victim initially testified that her father was the “biological father” of the baby.
However, investigation officer, and then Peravoor Circle Inspector, Sunil Kumar wasn’t convinced and continued to question the victim. A few days later, the victim cracked and revealed how she was repeatedly raped by the vicar in 2016. She claimed that she was pressurised by the priest to keep mum or face dire consequences, Kumar had told ThePrint at the time of probing the case.
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The third twist
The trial in the case commenced in the Thalassery POCSO court on 1 August 2017.
The prosecution faced another major setback when the victim and her family turned hostile. On the first day of the trial itself, the victim contradicted her previous statement. She claimed she had “consensual sex” with Robin Vadakkumchery, and wanted to lead a family life with him. She told the court that her previous statement given to police and a magistrate was under duress.
At this point, an attempt was also made to fudge the age of the victim as she claimed to be an adult who was in a relationship with Vadakkumchery.
The police then submitted the victim’s school records to prove that she was a minor at the time. The prosecution also asked the victim to undergo tests to determine her age, but this was met with a refusal. The court then declared the witness hostile.
The police officer quoted above said the force faced a lot of hurdles. At every step, there was an attempt made to cover up the crime, the officer said, adding the accused were being protected by a network of the church.
During the trial, Vadakkumchery had “donated money to the hospital” as a reward for not reporting the incident, the officer claimed.
However, Vadakkumchery couldn’t escape law.
In February 2019, the court held him guilty for raping and impregnating the minor, two years after he was suspended from priesthood.
The church’s ‘apology’
Before appointing a new vicar in place of Robin Vadakkumchery in March 2017, the Bishop of Mananthavady Archdiocese Jose Porunnedom had issued an apology to the victim and her family calling it “an incident of sin that has brought shame to the Church”.
Soon after, Father Paul Thelekat of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council, called rapes a result of “consumerism”. “Women are presented as a commodity both in media and in advertisements and all commodities as marketed with girls and women where human body is dehumanised,” he had said.
In an editorial published in the same month, Malayalam magazine Sunday Shalom indirectly extended support to the priest for his “deeds” and criticised the victim for “not exercising restraint”.
“Daughter, why did you forget who a priest is? He has a human body and has temptations. He may have forgotten his position for a few seconds, my child who has taken the Holy Communion, why didn’t you stop or correct him?” it said.
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