advertisement
On 24 August 2005, the diocese of Crookton in Minnesota received an anonymous complaint stating that an Indian priest, Father Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, working at the church had sexually assaulted a minor.
A second victim later came forward. Another young girl who had wanted to become a nun had been sexually assaulted by Father Jeyapaul. The man hailing from Tamil Nadu rushed back to India and after almost a decade of legal wrangles, he was convicted by the Minnesota court and sentenced to a year in prison in 2015.
After serving a shorter prison term, Jeyapaul returned to India a few months ago. And in a move that has shocked child right activists in the state; the Roman Catholic Church of Southern India has now lifted the suspension against him.
He was sentenced to a shorter term in jail based on a plea bargain, with the condition that he does not get back to ministerial duties or get in contact with children.
While the international media had first reported on the lifting of the suspension, the Ootacamund Diocese in Tamil Nadu confirmed to The News Minute that the church was not averse to allotting a role to Father Jeyapaul in the church ministry.
Father Gyanprakash Topno, spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India refused to comment on Ootacamund diocese’ decision.
This is in clear contrast to the position taken by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India in 2010. A plenary meeting of this apex body of Catholic churches in India had then said that they would have a zero-tolerance policy to abuse of children in institutions run by the Church.
The church body had then said that “any clergy member accused of sexual abuse would be suspended from all priestly duties, and in extreme cases, the Church would consider defrocking the priest”.
When asked about the Child Protection Policy of the Church, Father Gyanprakash Topno reiterated that the decision was by the Roman Catholic Church in South India, and they cannot comment.
Vidya Reddy of Tulir - Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse (CPHCSA) calls the case a mockery.
Attorney Jeff Anderson of St Paul, Minnesota, who represented the girls in the case, criticised church authorities for lifting Jeyapaul’s suspension, said, “The Vatican must be held accountable.... This is on them. This is on the pope.”
While Peterson, one of the victims, has spoken publicly about her case before in hopes that it would help others, Anderson said she was too upset to comment Saturday.
In 2005, despite repeated letters from Bishop Victor Balke of the Minnesota church, the Ootacamund diocese failed to act against Jeyapaul. Bishop Balke, through several letters, clearly said that he believed Jeyapaul was guilty not just of sexual misconduct, but of financial misappropriation. The News Minute has these letters.
That’s not all. In spite of the complaints, Jeyapaul was made the secretary for the Diocesan Commission for Education in the Diocese of Ootacamund. It was only in 2006 when Archbishop Angelo Amato, Secretary of Church Development Fund insisted on it that Jeyapaul was suspended from ministerial activities.
(Dhanya Rajendran is the Managing Editor and Co-Founder of The News Minute.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)