SC declines ex-Catholic priest’s plea for interim bail to marry minor he raped

The Supreme Court Monday declined to entertain a plea by ex-Catholic priest Robin Vadakkumcherry for an interim bail to marry the minor girl he had raped and impregnated. The apex court, however, asked him to approach the Kerala High Court.

The rape survivor from Kerala had on Saturday moved the Supreme Court seeking permission to marry Robin, who was sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment after a court in February 2019

SC declines to entertain plea by ex-Catholic priest Robin Vadakkumcherry for interim bail to marry the girl he raped as minor, asks him to approach Kerala HC. He was sentenced to 20 yrs in jail under POCSO in 2019. @IndianExpress

— Ananthakrishnan G (@axidentaljourno) August 2, 2021

Following his sentencing, the Church initiated steps to dismiss him from the priesthood and finally defrocked him in 2020.

The girl belonged to a Catholic family in a parish where Vadakkumchery worked as a priest. In May 2016, the girl, who had at the time just written her Class 10 exams, went to Vadakkumchery’s parsonage for some data-entry work of the parish. In the afternoon, when the other girls were away, the priest took the girl to his bedroom and raped her. He let her go home after commanding her not to reveal the incident to anyone. The girl said nothing to her family. She went to school, and attended mass at the local church every day. She had become pregnant as a result of the rape, but no one seemed to have realised this.