Kerala priest's rape of minor: 5 nuns under scanner for role in hush up

As more reports pointing at the Catholic priest’s rape of a minor girl in Kerala’s Kannur district emerged on Saturday, the police are working towards arresting several others for covering up the incident.

Six people working with a hospital and an orphanage, besides a parish assistant, are on the police radar for their role in the cover up, sources said. Five of the accused are nuns.

On February 28, the police arrested Father Robin Vadakkancheril (48), vicar at St Sebastian Church in Kottiyoor under the Diocese of Mananthavady, for the rape of the 17-year-old girl.

Administrators at the Christuraj Hospital in Koothuparamba in Kannur and the Holy Infant Mary Convent in Vythiri, Wayanad, have been accused of concealing information about the minor girl delivering a baby and the child’s subsequent admission to the convent, run by nuns.

The Department of Social Justice is learnt to be following up on a report that also exposes supposed lapses made by the Child Welfare Committee in Wayanad, headed by Fr Thomas Joseph Therakam.

The girl’s father was initially projected as the accused and reports said her family was offered money for their silence