RANIPET: Over a month after a 54-year-old pastor was charged with sexually assaulting a minor girl, the victim’s family on Wednesday alleged that police are aiding the suspect in evading arrest. They also said that the pastor’s supporters have been threatening them to drop the case against him.
M Raghurajkumar, who used to be the pastor at the Assemblies of God church in Ranipet where the girl and her family used to go, was charged under the Pocso Act on March 17 in Ranipet after he sexually abused a 14-year-old for two years. According to the FIR, since 2022, the girl has been assaulted nearly 30-40 times and Raghurajkumar had threatened her to keep it a secret. The child said that she was also witness to the man sexually harassing other children and women.
The parents then petitioned the Ranipet collector and superintendent of police in February. Ranipet Police lodged the complaint at the Ranipet all-women police station and cases have been filed under IPC section 506(2) (criminal intimidation) and sections 7 (Touching a child’s intimate body parts or any sexual act with them, even without penetration, is considered sexual assault), 8 (The punishment for sexual assault is imprisonment for a minimum of three years up to five years, along with a fine.), 9(l) (Whoever commits sexual assault on the child more than once and repeatedly), and 10 (Aggravated sexual assault carries a punishment of imprisonment for a minimum of five years up to seven years, along with a fine.) of the POCSO Act 2012.
However, soon after the complaint, the pastor fled from Ranipet and is still on the run. The parents claim that due to the delay in arrest, his supporters have been pressuring them to withdraw the complaint.
“A few church members have been threatening us to drop the complaint against him. Recently, they went to my husband’s native district and threatened my husband’s parents to withdraw the complaint,” said the victim’s mother.
They further alleged that the pastor is still stalking the victim via social media. “The pastor often stalks our Facebook account and sees our regular updates. I have updated the Ranipet police about this, but there has been no response from them,” the mother added.
Also, the POCSO case is investigated by the Ranipet District Social Welfare Department, which ideally should have been handled by the district child protection officer and the District Child Welfare Committee.
The victim hasn’t received any counselling from the district administration, the mother said.
When TNIE contacted Ranipet District Collector S. Valarmathi, she stated, “Appropriate action will be taken in this case and we will provide proper awareness about the POCSO awareness in the district.”
Investigation officer N Sahin told TNIE, “Since the FIR was registered, we have started to trace the call record of the pastor. We will secure and arrest the pastor soon.”