A Catholic parish priest has been arrested under the POCSO Act for sexually harassing 3 underage girls. He noticed them attending the church alone and took them to his private chambers on the pretext of conducting ‘special prayers’ for their studies.
John Robert (46), is the parish priest of St.Arulanandar Church in Mandapam near Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu. 3 school going girls aged between 15-17 accused him of sexually harassing them in the church. As per the news reports, the 3 girls used to come to the church alone. Noticing this John Robert started talking to them and established a relationship with them.
One day after the mass was over he took the 3 girls to a private place on the pretext of conducting ‘special prayers’ for their studies and molested them. Girls told about it to their parents who informed the Child Welfare Committee(CWC) officials. They conducted an investigation and found the allegations to be true. The priest has been booked and arrested under the POCSO Act.
Not only girls, but even boys are not safe in churches and Christian institutions. Depraved Catholic priests have often sexually abused minor boys. A priest was arrested for sexually abusing minor boys in a children’s home in Kerala. Another priest who served as the Principal of a Christian school in Kerala was also arrested for sexually abusing a 11 year old boy in the school dormitory.
