Author: Sanghamitra
Publication: Opindia.com
Date: July 10, 2018
URL:      http://www.opindia.com/2018/07/blame-the-victim-and-shield-the-accused-churchs-way-of-dealing-with-rape-accusations/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

The weekly magazine Indian Currents, owned by the Catholic church and published under the patronage of the Capuchins of the Krisht Jyothi province of North India, has published a guest column by author AJ Philip. The article, titled ‘Villians as victims’ openly supports the rape accused Bishop Franko Mulakkal and the priests of the Malankara Orthodox Church against whom allegations of rape and abuse were filed recently.

The article starts with hailing the cordial behaviour and sense of humour of Bishop Fanko, with several anecdotes and examples, the author tries to establish that the Bishop was a great man. The author also mentions he knows the bishop personally and how he had inspired them to write an article about the canonization and subsequent sainthood of sister Alphonsa. He also cites how a priest in the US was ‘caught’ by a camera installed by a woman’s husband while he had gone to their house to settle a marital dispute between the two.

On the issue of the rape allegations against the priests of the Malankara church, the author states his mother belonged to that church and thus he has some idea about their traditions.
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More important, I know one of the priests, who s alleged to have "raped" her last, as one of my relatives helped him in his pastoral duties in New Delhi. The priest had a reputation as a good counsellor
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He goes ahead to assert why pre-marital counselling is important by citing a trivial anecdote of an incident in Delhi when a husband slapped his wife on their wedding night because she drank the whole glass of milk.

The author makes great attempts to malign the nun who had put rape allegations against bishop Franko. He insinuates that the nun was at a prominent position in the church and hence she presumably could not have been raped. He also questions the fact that why did the nun not complain when she was ‘getting raped’.
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This nun was at Jalandhar until she was transferred to a convent in Kerala. Nothing seems to have happened between them at Jalandhar. Everything happened in Kerala. Assuming that what she says is true, can a person who reached the status of Mother General in her religious order be "raped 13 times? Did she complain after the first, second, third, fourth and fifth rapes? Forget all of them, did she complain after the 13th rape?
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The author even tries to paint the rape accusation as being a motivated assault as the nun wanted to be posted in a prominent position and did not want to be transferred elsewhere.

Coming to the rape allegations on the priests of the Malankara Orthodox Church, the article even goes some extra lengths to project that the woman, when she was 16, had consensual sex and it was not rape.
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A girl can be physically grown-up at that age and can have consensual sex. However, the law defines sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old woman as "rape". So, it has to be agreed that she was "raped" at age 16.
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The author further attempts to suggest that the woman was in a physical relationship with many men. He specifies that 2 of these men were Hindu. The article states, “As I mentioned if the “rape” at age 16 was indeed a “rape”, it was not at all a sin to be confessed. She should have told her parents about the rape and they would have seen to it that the man was put behind bars. He would not have become a priest in due course.” He suggests that as the woman in question had not told her parents about being raped at 16 and had at no point complained to the authorities about being raped by the priests, her intentions must be questionable. He states that the case came to highlight only because her husband got to know of a credit card transaction made at a hotel in Kochi where the woman had spent a day with one of the priests.

In an attempt to totally absolve the priests and bishop of any wrongdoing, the article even brings in Adam and Eve. Insinuating the intentions of the victims and a superior agenda in both the cases, the article states “sex is never a one-sided affair’.
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Billions of men and women copulate every day for reasons I do not have to explain. This has been happening right from the days of Adam and Eve. But a modem-day Eve finds it convenient to claim that she was raped when she is caught in the act. Having said all this, let me also add, rape is an abominable act and the rapist should be severely punished. Let there be no mistaking about it.
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Ironically, as per a report in the Times of India, the cover story of the magazine published an editorial and the main story pointing out that women’s safety is a big issue in India.