Kerala: Christian priest sentenced to 18 years RI for sexually assaulting 4 teenage boys in 2017 

By PTI

KOLLAM: A Kerala courtroom has sentenced a Christian priest to 18 years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually abusing 4 minor boys of a seminary in Kollam district 5 years in the past.

Fr Thomas Parekkulam (35), a member of Chennai-based SDM minor seminary, was on Friday discovered responsible of the crime registered by police in Puthoor underneath Kottarakkara circle within the fee of offences punishable underneath Section 377 (unnatural offences) of the Indian Penal Code and different related sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act, 2012.

The younger victims, all aged 16 on the time of the incident, had been the scholars of a seminary in Pullamala within the district whereby the accused was serving as a rector.

Sentencing the priest to 5 years every in three circumstances and three years sentence within the fourth case, Additional District and Sessions Judge (POCSO) Ok N Sujith additionally ordered him to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh every for each case.

Considering the trauma suffered by the victims within the sexual assaults, the courtroom additionally beneficial to the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to award ample compensation to the victims commensurate to the bodily in addition to psychological trauma suffered by them.

“The factual circumstances emerged in the instant case would show that, attributing to sexual attack the victim boys were subjected to, they had suffered physical as well as mental trauma and ergo, it is necessary to rehabilitate them,” the courtroom stated.

The accused, who went absconding after escaping from police custody, was arrested from Chennai, the workplace of the district public prosecutor stated.

The case was registered and investigated primarily based on a grievance obtained by the Child Welfare Committee in Thiruvananthapuram, the workplace stated.