November 23, 2024 06:24 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
'Third World War has begun:' Ex-Ukraine military commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny | UK-India Free Trade Agreement negotiations to resume in early 2024 | UK can arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits country based on ICC warrant | Centre to send over 10,000 additional soldiers to violence-hit Manipur amid fresh violence | Chhattisgarh: 10 Maoists killed during encounter with security forces in Sukma
Do away with confession practice, says NWC after Kerala church rapes

Do away with confession practice, says NWC after Kerala church rapes

| @indiablooms | 27 Jul 2018, 09:24 am

New Delhi, July 26 (IBNS): Submitting its report on the Kerala church sex scandals, the  National Commission for Women (NCW) has recommended that the government should abolish the practice of confession in churches as it may lead to blackmailing women and threaten their safety and security, media reports said. 

NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said the commission has sought a probe by a central agency into the two Church sex scandals in Kerala that surfaced last month. One of the scandals involved four priests of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the second one the Bishop of Jalandhar, Franco Mulakka, in rape.

“We have recommended a probe by a central agency into these scandals because such incidents are on a rise in Kerala. An investigative agency should probe into these matters. They should go deep into it to see how many churches are involved in these incidents,” Sharma said.

The commission which has prepared a report on the scandals after meeting the victims is sending it to the Home Ministry and copies of it to Kerala and Punjab governments.

“We have recommended that confession should be abolished from the church. It is being misused by the priests. Many women are suffering. Women cannot share their private life with priests,” Sharma told The Indian Express.

The Bishop of Jalandhar was accused by a nun in Kottayam district of Kerala of raping her on several occasions between 2014 and 2016. The nun filed a complaint with the police on June 27.

In another incident, four priests of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church have been accused of sexually exploiting a married woman allegedly by blackmailing her making use of the secret confession she made to them on separate occasions.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.