Pathanamthitta: The police have filed charges against four priests for sexually assaulting a woman after she made a statement in this regard to the investigators. The first information report (FIR) that the police have filed says she was blackmailed into abuse, with the threat that her confession will be revealed.
The accused priests, who face arrest, have been named as Fr James K George, Fr Abraham Varghese, Fr Johnson V Mathew and Fr Job Mathew. They were charged with offences under IPC Sections 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman) and 376 (rape).
The woman has told the police that she was first abused at the age of 16. The FIR was prepared at the Crime Branch headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram on the basis of her statement. Since she was abused at different places, the police stations were exempted.
The Crime Branch has moved to record the woman's statement in front of a magistrate under Section 164. It is understood that the priests have moved to obtain anticipatory bail. Lawyers have been engaged to file pleas at the Thiruvalla and Pathanamthitta courts.
Read more: Latest Kerala news
