CHENNAI: Two staff members of Scripture Union, an international Christian organisation, were booked by the city police on Wednesday for sexually harassing minor girls. Sam Jaisundar and Reuben Clement were booked under Sections 354(A) (1) (ii) (outraging modesty of women) and 67(A) IT Act read with Women harassment Act.
The online complaint from the Commissioner’s office was transferred to the Ayanavaram police station since the office of the Scripture Union is present in that jurisdiction. Police said they are searching for the duo and they will soon be taken into custody. On October 6, the Scripture Union lodged a complaint against the duo in Chennai, a day after suspending them for sending inappropriate messages to female students.
The Scripture Union had told Express on October 5 that it was made aware of the alleged misbehaviour of its preacher Sam Jaisundar at least two months ago when parents of a 19-year-old made an oral complaint against him. The matter came to light after a Twitter user with the handle @joelgiftson17 shared screenshots of chat conversations purportedly between Jaisundar, another SU preacher Reuben Clement and girls from the ages of 10-17.
Express had flagged that SU might have had a responsibility to report the matter to the authorities given Jaisundar’s continued access to minor schoolchildren and the POCSO Act’s mandatory reporting clause.
Jaisundar, who has worked with SU since 2006, regularly visited schools across Tamil Nadu and conducted Vacation Bible School and summer camps. Speaking to TNIE, he did not dispute the authenticity of the screenshots shared on social media but claimed his intentions in the chat conversations with the girls were “not malicious”.
Although he acknowledged he had engaged in conversations with students, he said, “My intentions were not malicious. Some of my messages were misread.” When pressed on why he asked the children for photographs of themselves dressed in skirts and frocks, he said, “I will answer the inquiry committee. whatever they ask.” He refused to respond to further questions. The Scripture Union, in its complaint to the police, named both Jaisundar and Clement for allegedly sending inappropriate texts to female school students, many of whom were still minors.
The organisation’s complaint mentioned that it received a verbal complaint against Jaisundar from a 19-year-old girl on August 4. “Mr Samuel Jaisundar had indulged in sending inappropriate text messages on social media to the victim (name withheld by TNIE) and that both of them have been chatting with each other for some time and in pursuance to the oral complaint received from ** and her father had restrained Mr Samuel Jaisundar from visiting schools and also refrain from any interaction with school children,” the complaint said.