'Rapist' Kerala priest gets 60 years in jail

A 51-year-old Kerala Catholic priest Robin Vadakkumchery on Saturday was sentenced to 60 years in jail in three different cases of rape and abuse of minor girls.

Four nuns, another priest and one more woman attached to the convent, who were co-accused in the police charge sheet were let off due to lack of adequate evidences.

Thalassery Judge P.N. Vinod also fined the priest from the Mananthavady diocese in Wayanad district Rs 3 lakh after it was established that he had raped and impregnated a minor girl in 2016.

He was tried under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Vadakkumchery was serving as a parish vicar near Kannur and was the manager of the Church-backed-school, where the victim, a Class 11 student was studying.

The priest was arrested on February 27, 2017 night near Kochi International airport while he was preparing to slip out of the country.

A Childline agency that works among school children had registered the complaint against the priest.

The priest came under pressure after the girl gave birth to a child on February 7, 2017 at a hospital run by the management .

During the trial, the victim and her mother turned hostile. Despite that the court proceeded on the basis of evidences collected already and handed out the verdict.

The police will appeal against the discharge of the six others, who were found to have failed in discharging their duties.

--IANS

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