SC notice to Centre, Kerala on plea against forced confessions in Malankara churches

Petitioners said that the mandatory requirement of confessions and keeping such a register has turned into a tool for exploiting men and women parishioners

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre and Kerala government on a plea against mandatory confessions in Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, saying pernicious practice was leading to several problems including sexual exploitation of women and blackmailing.

A bench presided over by Chief Justice S A Bobde sought a response from Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Kottayam on a PIL filed by Mathew T Mathachan and two others.

The petitioners claimed there has been a spate of incidents which have exposed the sexual exploitation of women, including nuns themselves, as is evident from reports against Bishop Franco and Bishop Johnson P Matthew. Terming the reports the tip of the iceberg, they said, "priests turning into predators is fast becoming an accepted social norm that is almost impossible for the victims to overcome".

When confessions become the platform or medium through which rapes and sexual exploitation are carried out by predator priests, there is no reliable safety mechanism for the victims who are physically and mentally scarred for life, they said.

The petitioners, themselves members of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, asked the court declare the practice of forced and mandatory confessions and payment of money for retaining membership in Parish Churches as violative of basic human rights and dignity and fundamental rights to life, privacy and practice one's religion under the Constitution.

The petitioners contended that the top court in a judgement in K S Varghese case in 2017 had held the 1934 Constitution of Malankara Association was binding upon the Parish Churches. However, the practice these Parish Churches were indulging in were of public nature that affected human dignity and liberty of thoughts.

They said since the top court by a subsequent order on September 6, 2019 restrained any other court to pass any order against the mandate in the Varghese case, they could not raise their grievances before any other fora except the Supreme Court.

They claimed mandatory requirement of confessions and keeping such a register as per 1934 Constitution has "turned into a tool for exploiting men and women parishioners by the Vicars and priests of the respective churches".

"The compulsion to confess is a serious intrusion into the right to privacy of a person as held by the nine-judge bench in the K S Puttaswamy case (2017)," they said.