BishopAccountability.org
	Church Vicar Booked for Molesting 11-Yr-Old Girl Times of India September 4, 2011 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/NMC-data-indicates-healthy-housing-supply/articleshow/9865167.cms NAGPUR: The vicar of an Orthodox church was booked on Sunday for alleged outraging the modesty of an 11-year-old girl on two occasions. Reverend Father MP Kurien, vicar of the St George Orthodox Cathedral at Jaffar Nagar, was booked by Gittikhadan police for molesting the Church attendant's daughter. The girl's father had complained against the sexual abuse of his elder daughter to Bishop Joseph Mar Dinoysius of the Metropolitan Kolkata Diocese on August 18. The parent claimed in his letter to the Bhilai-based Bishop that the abuse had taken place on August 13 and again on August 16. The parent complained that Kurien had come home when the parents were away. The parents came to know about the incident when Nancy (name changed) narrated the episodes to them. The committee members of the church were also informed by the victim's father. Nancy's mother is a nurse with a private hospital. TOI was informed by an insider that Kurien had left the city for Bhilai on the evening of August 16 by train. "The Father's wife and children stay at Bhilai while he stays alone here. He would return to Bhilai in the middle of the week," said a church source. "We were getting complaints against the Vicar from women, but there had not been anything concrete," he said. Sources said that Kurien was appointed here a couple of years ago and stayed on the first floor of the vicarage opposite the church. Nancy stayed with her family on the second floor. There was a kindergarten on the ground floor. Sources close to the church committee said there was immense pressure on the girl's family to withdraw the complaint and not approach the police. There was a huge controversy over the matter since the committee members opted to go into the details of the complaint before legal action was initiated. It was reliably learnt that the committee members had also been served a legal notice by a woman member for not taking concrete action. She had apparently threatened to approach the Charity Commissioner to highlight the irregularities in the committee. An internal enquiry was also instituted by the diocese members. A church committee member approached Gittikhadan police on August 27 with the complaint. A team of cops from Gittikhadan police station had also gone to the vicarage but Nancy's parents were not ready to file a complaint. It is learnt that this snowballed into a major controversy among church members. Some also used social networking platforms to protest against such episodes in religious places. The church members then finally approached the Gittikhadan police station to lodge a complaint on Sunday.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.