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Changanacherry sex scandal: Where's the child?

The focus in the Changanacherry sex scandal that rocked the Church in Kerala has shifted to the child born to Father Cyriac Karthikappally from his illicit relation.

The state Human Rights Commission is now trying to find whether it has been "eliminated."

Chances of prosecuting the priest has dimmed with the girl concerned informing a Changanacherry court that she had no complaint against him and that the sexual act was with her full consent.

However, the police are trying to ascertain whether the priest indulged in the activity while the girl was a minor. In which case he could be prosecuted by treating the case as rape. He could then even undergo jail sentence up to 10 years as per the Indian Penal Code.

The police have two versions about the girl's age. While school records show it at the time of the first sexual contact, in August 1995, as 15 years and four months, the panchayat files have it as 16 years and four months.

If the court accepts the panchayat version, the case could be dismissed. The police are trying to find out whether the panchayat records have been tampered to save the priest.

The action council set up by the Christian community to pursue the case has turned its attention to the girl-child born of the relation. No one is forthcoming about her whereabouts. The council filed a petition before the Kerala State Human Rights Commission to find out whether the child is alive.

KSHRC Chairman Justice M M Pareed Pillai has already directed his Chief Investigation Officer Ramesh Chandra Bhanu to look into the matter, and also to see whether the child's birth has been recorded.

The probe would also address whether the names of the father and mother have been recorded in official registers, said action council convenor Jomon Puthanpurackkal.

There was every possibility that the child has been "eliminated" as it was unwanted by the priest and the girl, Puthanpurackkal told rediff.com.

He pointed out that the religious court of the Changanacherry arch diocese which considered the case had mentioned that Fr Karthikappally and the girl wanted to abort the child when she was three months pregnant. They decided against it after doctors advised them that it was too dangerous at that stage.

Puthanpurackkal said was not possible for Fr Karthikappally to take care of the child as he continued as priest under the Changanacherry arch bishop. The girl too was not in a position to look after the baby as she was said to be studying in Bangalore.

So it was important to know whether the child was alive. For this, the convenor said, it was imperative to find out whether the birth has been recorded in the panchayat and church records.

The Christian community in the state was highly agitated over the attempt by the Church to let the priest off. A section felt the church should dispense him from priesthood so that he could marry the girl.

The church, however, decided to allow Fr Karthikappally to continue as priest without pastoral duties following the consideration of the case by the ecclesiastical court set up by Changanacherry arch bishop Joseph Powathil.

The bishop maintained that the court had settled the matter as per the Canon Law and he could not do anything beyond that.

Sources close to the bishop, for their part, maintain that the case was being raked up by a disgruntled section to malign the image of the church.

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