KOCHI: Kerala High Court has granted bail to Fr Job Mathew, one of the Malankara Orthodox Church priests allegedly involved in a sex scandal. He had been remanded into judicial custody after surrendering before the police.
Earlier, Fr Abraham Varghese, another priest, had obtained a stay on his arrest from the Supreme Court. Fr Johnson V Mathew also secured a bail from the Kerala High Court and Fr Jaise George approached the Supreme Court seeking anticipatory bail.
Though the other three priests had preferred to stay low after the scam hit the headlines, Father Abraham Varghese uploaded a video in YouTube, shaming the woman. In the video, he alleged that she was the one with the loose morals. He also questioned the authenticity of the complaint filed against him and alleged that the victim had character flaws.
In the other alleged rape of a nun by Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal, a leaked phone conversation between Cardinal George Alencherry and the nun who raised rape allegation against Franco has put the Cardinal in a fix. Though the Church had denied the allegations raised with regard to leaked phone conversation, it was reported that the nun had revealed her sufferings at the Jalandhar diocese to the Cardinal.
Cardinal Alencherry had earlier maintained he was unaware of the rape complaint against the Bishop and the nun had only told him about some issues in her diocese.