New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved the verdict on the anticipatory bail plea of two Kerala Orthodox Church priests accused of raping a woman from Thiruvalla and extended the stay on their arrest.
A bench headed by Justice A K Sikri heard the pleas in-camera but videotaped the proceedings also extended protection to first accused Father Abraham Varghese, alias Sony, and fourth accused Father Jaise K. George till the court ruled on their bail pleas.
The state Crime Branch had submitted a report in the court that the accused shouldn’t be granted bail.
Meanwhile, the Thiruvalla First Class Magistrate Court has rejected the bail applications of two priests, who were arrested in the case.
A woman who regularly visited the Malankara Orthodox Church has accused four priests of sexually abusing her for a decade. Her husband, however, has complained that she was subjected to sexual overtures by the five priests.
Initially, it was only one priest who allegedly made advances on the woman. She claims that when she sought help from another priest, he threatened her and shared her contact details with a fellow priest. Eventually, she was subjected to sexual abuse by four priests, she claimed in her statement to the police.
Two of the four accused priests are still on the run. The crime branch has been conducting searches at the residence of the accused and taking statements from their relatives, in an attempt to track them down.