A Malankara Orthodox Church in Kerala has suspended five priests after a man complained that his wife was sexually abused by them, news agency ANI reported Tuesday morning.
According to a report by the News Minute, the man in his complaint to the church alleged that his wife was sexually exploited by the five priests after they allegedly blackmailed her based on her secret confessions. However, a police compliant is yet to be filed, the report added.
Church spokesperson PC Elias said, according to a Deccan Chronicle report, that all five priests have been divested of their responsibilities pending inquiry. Three priests belong to Niranam diocese, one Thumpamon diocese and another from the diocese of Delhi.
In the last few days, an audio clip purportedly of the woman's husband, has been doing the rounds on social media.
The audio clip, which is a telephonic conversation between the man and another person, says that he confronted his wife upon seeing a hefty hotel bill in her e-mail account in February this year. Saying that he was raised as a believer of the Orthodox church and has lived all his life in purity, the man says: "The first bill in the statement was my wife’s hotel bill where she stayed in a five-star hotel. When I confronted her, she said that she was being blackmailed by one of the orthodox priests into having a sexual relationship with him. Many years ago, before we got married, a priest had sexually abused her and was blackmailing her since then. During my daughter’s baptism, she was mentally upset about what was happening and so she confessed her ordeal to another priest, who threatened that he’ll tell this to me. Threatening her so, he demanded sexual favours from her. He even took pictures of them together and shared those pictures with a third priest. He too, later started abusing my wife. They kept circulating the videos and now around 5-8 priests are involved."
The man then goes on to name five priests from different Dioceses, and says that there are more priests involved, but that he hasn't been able to verify their identities. He added that his wife has not divulged the extent of the abuse, fearing that the priests would do something.
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