A 20-year-old girl committed suicide after she was allegedly assaulted sexually by a youth in her neighbourhood in Walayar, Palakkad district where two minor siblings, who had allegedly been subjected to sexual abuse, were found dead in their house within a span of 50 days even as a court on Thursday left 48-year-old Catholic Priest Fr Robin Vadakkumchery, accused of raping a 16-year-old girl,
in the custody of the police for four days.
The 20-year-old girl of Sivaji Nagar, Walayar was reportedly subjected to sexual assault by her 24-year-old neighbour in her own house on the night of March 1. She was admitted to the District Hospital, Palakkad after she consumed poison but the hospital authorities allegedly discharged her compulsorily. She died on March 6.
The police have taken into custody the youth accused of assaulting her.
“He did this cruelty to her inside her own house. Her parents and brother had seen him leaving the house. When they asked him about it, the response was not entirely intolerable,” a relative of the girl said. “She died on Monday while she was being taken back to the district hospital from where she had been discharged,” she added.
The postmortem report had indications that she had been subjected to sexual assault.
Meanwhile, a court in Kannur on Thursday left senior Syro-Malabar Catholic Church priest Fr Robin Vadakkumchery, accused of raping a 16-year-old girl in Kottiyoor in Kannur district at the parsonage of the church where he was Vicar, in the custody of police for four days for questioning and evidence-gathering. He has to be returned to the court on Monday.
The police want to question Robin for recovering his passport and other documents. The disgraced priest was taken into custody on the evening of February 27 from Chalakudy in Thrissur district as he was preparing to flee for Canada. It is said that another Catholic priest had arranged the ticket and other travel documents for Robin’s foiled trip.
The police have named a total of ten persons, including six Catholic nuns, another senior priest who was the chairman of the Wayanad district Child Welfare Committee and a pediatrician of the Christu Raj Hospital, Koothuparambu where the victim had delivered her baby. One of the accused nuns is the gynecologist of the hospital.