Catholic priest booked for sexual harassment in Kanyakumari district

KANYAKUMARI: The Kanyakumari district cyber police have registered a case against a Catholic priest after a nursing college student levelled sexual harassment allegations against the priest.
For more than a week, obscene videos and pictures involving the priest went viral on social media. The videos and photos were stolen from his laptop by some people and uploaded online. Under these circumstances, a first year nursing student has filed a complaint with the superintendent of police stating that Fr Benedict Anto posted at the Our Lady of Assumption Malankara Church at Pilankalai was harassing her online.
Anto used to touch her inappropriately in church where she was a regular-goer. After some days, Anto collected her mobile number from her mother and started pressuring her to make video calls and WhatsApp chat. She was forced to respond and Anto started sexually harassing her online.
After she learnt that Anto was harassing other girls too, she decided to lodge a complaint with the police. However, Anto and a few more people started threatening her. She had complained of one Paulraj and two unidentified men in her complaint.
Based on the complaint, cyber police filed a case on Anto and others invoking two sections of the IT Act, woman harassment and threatening. Police said a search is on for Anto who is absconding.