New Delhi: Kottiyoor rape survivor has approached the Supreme Court requesting permission to marry the accused Robin Vadakkumchery. The court will consider the case on Monday.
The request was submitted as per her own wish, according to the survivor's application.
She also requested the court to grant Vadakkumchery bail for the marriage.
Earlier, Vadakkumchery had requested the High Court to marry the survivor. However, HC denied permission.
The Thalassery court, on February 12, 2019, awarded 20 years of rigourous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3 lakh to Robin Vadakkumchery who was found guilty in a case of raping and impregnating a minor girl in Kottiyoor. Though the priest was awarded a total of 60 years imprisonment on various charges, he can serve all the sentences together. Rs 1.5 lakh from the fine should be given to the girl.
Robin Vadakkumchery, dismissed from priesthood by the Vatican, was serving as a parish vicar near Kannur and was the manager of the Church-backed-school, where the victim, a Class 11 student, was studying.
A child line agency, which works among school children, had registered the complaint against the priest. Robin Vadakkumchery came under pressure after the girl gave birth to a child on February 7, 2017.
Robin Vadakkumchery was arrested on February 27, 2017 from near the Kochi International Airport while he was preparing to slip out of the country. He was tried under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
During the trial, the victim and her mother had turned hostile. But the court handed out the verdict on the basis of evidences. Four nuns, another priest and one more woman attached to the convent, all co-accused in the police charge-sheet, were let off due to lack of adequate evidences.
In March, the Manthavady (in Wayanad district) dioceses officials said the Vatican had dismissed Robin Vadakkumchery from priesthood. The papers related to the Pope's decision, taken on December 5, 2019, were given to the jailed priest.
(With inputs from IANS)
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