Aishwarya Rathore-
Published on August 02, 2021 at 2: 36 PM
Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by a rape survivor seeking permission to marry her rapist, a Catholic Priest named Robin Vadakkumcherry.
The Bench stated that there is no reason to interfere with the High Court order and directed the petitioner to seek remedy from the High Court.
The plea was an appeal against a February 17 Order of the Kerala High Court dismissing the priest’s plea for bail.
Both the rape survivor and the accused had moved the Supreme Court in an appeal against the Kerala High Court Order.
The survivor’s plea was that the accused should be granted bail so that she can marry him and provide legitimacy to the child she birthed after being raped.
The accused had also filed an appeal on the same grounds.
“In a bail plea, how can my fundamental right to marry be hindered. Observations should not be such that an application cannot be made to the jail superintendent. There are scathing observations by the High Court,” said Advocate Amit George appearing for the accused.
The Court said, “We can only request the High Court to hear the accused. Approach the High Court for relief.”
Brief Facts of the Case:
The girl who had just completed her class 10 exam had gone to the parsonage for some work when the priest took her to his bedroom and raped her.
He then told the girl not to reveal the incident to anyone. Subsequently, the girl had become pregnant and a DNA test revealed that Vadakkumcherry (the Priest) was responsible.
During the trial, she had turned hostile saying that she had attained the age of consent at the time of the incident and the sex was consensual.
The POCSO court had, however, convicted Vadakkumcherry and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of Rs 2 lakh.
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