Rape victim moves court seeking nod to marry convict

A victim in a rape case in Kerala is learnt to be moving court seeking bail for the convict ex-priest expressing wish to marry him. The move came after a similar plea by the convict was earlier rejected by the Kerala High Court.

Robin Vadakumcherry, a former priest of the Mananthavady diocese in Wayanad in Kerala, was convicted by a POCSO court in Kannur district in Kerala in 2019 on charges of raping and impregnating a minor girl.

It was learnt that the victim, who is now aged above 18, is approaching the Supreme Court with a plea to marry the convict.

The Kerala HC in February rejected a plea of Vadakumcherry to grant bail for marrying the victim. The police and prosecution had then opposed the bail plea maintaining that the wish to marry could be a ploy to get bail. In the present move also the court may seek the opinion of the police and prosecution.

Police sources said that the present move could be also a modus operandi to obtain bail for the convict. The victim and her parents could be under severe compulsions.

Vadakumcherry, who is in his mid-fifties, raped the girl belonging to his parish several times during 2016. The girl, who was only 16 at that time, became pregnant and delivered a child. Efforts were made to conceal the crime. He was held just ahead of his bid to leave the country. He was defrocked after he was convicted by the lower court.