CHURCH, CRIME AND POLITICS

THE CONSPIRACY TO JUNK THE ABHAYA JUDGMENT

Valson Thampu

The conviction, and subsequent acquittal, of Fr. Benedict still rankle in our souls. When the news of whitewashing a heinous crime came to my notice, -I was a young lad in those innocent days- the image of a cobweb came to my mind. That was because of an old saying. Law is a cobweb. If a mosquito falls into it, it is caught and consumed. If, instead, a lizard falls? Well, the web breaks.

Those who moved mountains to get Benedict acquitted would have thought that they did a great service to the church and to the priestly class. They were grievously wrong. They fuelled the rot in the church. They swept away the last vestige of restraint and inhibition left in these circles of cryptic criminals and holy hypocrites. When the fear of God departs from the clergy and the religious, the only thing that can avert absolute disaster is the fear of law. The acquittal of Benedict dismantled the last brick of restraint. It is impossible to view the present scenario in isolation from that watershed moment in the history, not just of the Catholic Church in Kerala, but of the Christian community as a whole. If Fr. Benedict had not been acquitted, very likely, Fr. Thomas Kottoor would have spent the evening of his life in peace and serenity. The murder of many nuns would not have happened.

We know the canard that was fabricated to wash Fr. Benedict clean. Some vague ‘estate owner’ was the adulterer-murderer. The priest was the scapegoat. The victim died in the course of an abortion she was forced into by the real culprit. The doctor confided this story in his wife. She kept it to herself. But when she was about to die, she revealed it, pricked by her long-sleeping conscience at the ripe old age of 93. Wisely, the same was revealed after her death. (Why embarrass an old lady? Even if young nuns are killed, old women should not be vexed.) So, the ex-convict is now in line for beatification. Reportedly people pray at his tomb and miracles happen. What more do you want? Suddenly a murderer becomes a saint. This is called transformation. The church has the monopoly on canonisation. Why shouldn’t it canonise anyone it likes?

The same, it is not far-fetched to believe, will happen in Abhaya’s case as well. Such is the extent of the clout, money and muscle of the church. Let me make a prediction. This is the version that is likely to hit the public soon. Sr Abhaya had been on the brink of suicide for long. On the fateful day, she took her life. She wrote letters to that effect to some of her fellow nuns. They received these letters a few days after Abhaya died. (Why crucial evidence surfaces only after the death of relevant persons, is a mystery I cannot fathom.) Startled, they took the letters to Mother Superior. She got scared too. Her brain totally befuddled, she advised the sisters to burn the letters. They did so at once. So, it was a case of suicide after all. If not this, something similar is likely to be circulated soon.

Another theory has just been put in circulation. A retired police officer is the author of this story. It is as follows. Adakka Raju chased Abhaya to rape her. In desperation she jumped into the well. Drowned. This is plain smart. The crime branch tried all its tricks to force Raju to be the scapegoat. Failed. Now, in a moment, this smart cop has managed to make Raju the rapist-murderer. That is the magic that shameless loyalty to the church and its prurient oligarchs can perform. Readers can expect other stories too to circulate soon. Kottoor and Abhaya will be made, step by step, exemplars of ‘the innocent suffering for Christ’s sake’.

The problem with this theory is that it undermines the suicide theory. If Abhaya was in the bottomless pit of depression, why would she resist, or flee from, the rapist Raju? She simply won’t care for the body she wants to destroy any way. The picture that emerges from this invented story, wholly unintended, is that of a zealously pious and spiritually vital young nun who would rather die than sully her soul. This version only reinforces the finding that Abhaya did not commit suicide and that she was killed.  

Readers, be careful. Don’t be noticed by the army of church sanitisers. Otherwise, it is only a matter of time before your turn comes to be the accused. You can’t be sure that tomorrow a theory won’t be spun that you were the one who chased Sr Abhaya to rape her. And it was from your fell clutches that she escaped by committing suicide. Adakka Raju is a weak candidate as a rapist. One who comes to steal copper plates won’t be hormonally supercharged. He would only want to extract the item and slink away unnoticed. Especially in a convent which is guarded by ferocious dogs.

It will not be long before Thomas Kottoor is made out to be a saint, persecuted for his faith by a whole world that is conspiring day and night against the church. Accused number 2 in this case, Fr. Jose Puthurukkayil, got himself exempted from the trial. I saw one of his sermons on the YouTube. He was preaching passionately on the spirituality of suffering (sahanam). He got so emotional that he began to speak in tongues. Why wouldn’t he? It was, after all, such a lucky escape! Hallelujah! I saw another priest, who was spewing satanic falsehood to a congregation regarding the unjust sufferings inflicted on two Catholic priests. That was when Thomas and Jose were in jail for a brief period. He turned them into superior version of Jesus Christ! He moved the congregation to tears. And that, while the case was under trial! Are there no scruples left in the church any longer? Do what you want. Unleash a sewer-rush of lies. Confuse the na?ve. Take everyone for a ride. Look smart. Get away, literally, with murder. You can afford it. Then why not?

Those who have read the Abhaya case judgment know how brutally Adakka Raju was tortured by the crime branch to make him accept responsibility for the murder. He proved stronger than the pathetic, helpless father of the girl that Fr. Robin raped and impregnated. That poor man was forced to take the responsibility for the illicit pregnancy, casting him into a cauldron of crime, rape and incest. Adakka Raju is now being damned by priests and their lackeys as a thief who cannot tell any truth! Truth is the prerogative of the likes of Fr Robin, Bishop Franko, and Fr. Kottoor.

It is hard to believe that the police, on their own, had a desperate need to falsify the investigation and that they did so, without any pressure mounted on them by the interested parties, who were mighty enough to break the backbone of the investigation. The interesting thing is that even as Adakka Raju was being crushed, the suicide theory was being propagated. So, we have a curious situation. Adakka Raju killed Sr. Abhya who committed suicide. That’s as rational as the investigation of a church-related crime gets. In the interest of brevity they could say, ‘Adakka Raju suicided Sr. Abhaya’.

Adakka Raju stood his ground and did not break down. Ironically, only a thief could have done that. The holy men of the church have no backbone to stand for the truth. They are self-appointed witnesses and martyrs for the truth of profit and convenience, who luxuriate in gluttony and indulgence, in strict compliance with their vow of poverty. And they are gleeful that Adakka Raju is a thief. He has to be a thief, for the murderer-priest to be innocent. Where have we reached, my folks? To the holy priests, a thief cannot tell the truth. One does not know from where they derive this logic. There is far greater consistency, mutual solidarity and fellow-feeling in the underworld than in the church. Ironically, the world of thieves survives on truth –truth to each other. The world of church-saints thrives on hypocrisy and deception. Therefore, let us all join in, in damning and discrediting Adakka Raju as a thief. It is relevant to recall in this context that, in the story of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, a thief was free to recognize the truth. The high priest and his fellow-assassins were busy murdering truth. So, Jesus would have received the soul of Abhaya with a smile soaked in tears. It is interesting to imagine Adakka Raju and Fr. Kottoor standing before Jesus!

Those who are rubbishing the verdict in the Abhaya case, need to answer a few questions.

-If the accused were indeed innocent, why were all the tricks in the book used to shield them? Why was pressure mounted on the investigating agencies to junk the case?

-Are we to believe that what worked in this was only the influence and money power of the convicts, and that the influence and money power of the church played no role in denying justice to Abhaya for 28 years?

-Why didn’t the church, or the convent, take any interest in ensuring that the murdered nun got justice? Why were they eager to play the suicide theory? Why are they still persisting with it?

-Is it fair that the murdered nun is vilified even after her death? Is there any history of mental disturbance in Abhaya prior to her joining the convent? Is there any relevant evidence? If yes, what is it? Why is it not being released to the public?

-Assuming that Abhaya became mentally unstable after she joined the convent, shouldn’t there be an investigation into why she lost her balance in the convent? Is the church not interested in resorting to preventive measures; especially given that such cases are frequent? What is its commitment to human life? After all, more than any other church the Catholic Church is pro-life?

-If Sr. Abhaya had been indeed murdered by a lay Christian or a non-Christian, how would the church have conducted itself?

-Why did an investigating officer, who propagated the suicide theory, commit suicide?

-Why was evidence destroyed in this case; shockingly, even evidence which was already recorded as material objects of evidence in the magistrate’s court?

-Why did a CBI officer, DySP Varghese Thomas, resign from his job with ten years’ service left? Why was he pressurised to change his findings? What does he say now? He is, after all, still alive.

-Why are some of the priests fanning the flames of conspiracy theories, making the accused innocent victims of a conspiracy against the church? How does seeking justice for a murdered nun become a conspiracy against the church?

-Sr. Sephy admitted in writing that she had been sexually compromised while she slept with a male relative. This, according to her, happened after she became a nun. By her own admission, therefore, she had ceased to be celibate. Why was no action taken against her? Or, are we to believe that sex in convents is holy and harmonious with virginity?  

-Fr. Kottoor admitted, as per the version of one of the prosecution witnesses, that his relationship with Sr. Sephy was that of a husband with his wife. Why didn’t the church defrock him?

-Why does the church continue to treat the ‘deaths under mysterious circumstances’ of nuns in convents, one after the other, casually? Why is no attempt made to investigate any of them so as to establish the truth? Is the life of a nun cheap and immaterial?

-Finally, if Abhaya was from a rich and influential family, would the church and its authorities have kept this condemnable silence about her murder? Who does not know that life in every convent, every religious order, is based on the economic status of its members? Nuns from poor families are treated as servants and made to do menial jobs. They are forced into sex-slavery. Sisters like Sephy, going by her statement, take to sex voluntarily.

It is interesting to note that none of the two dozen nuns killed since the murder of Abhaya hailed from rich or reputed families. Does it mean that the children of the poor are required to be sex-slaves to sex-maniacs in cassocks? That they can be killed and disposed of, like street dogs? What Christianity is this?

I won’t be surprised if the convicts are acquitted, given the clout and desperation of the church big-wigs and the political degeneration of Kerala. Given how precariously political equations are poised, every political party is scared of church leaders. We see them fawning on bishops, who now look larger than life. As for humble Christians like us, we don’t have the brain to know that our faith is being prostituted and that the future of our children and grandchildren is being fouled. We don’t have the backbone to protest, even if we know.

It is because of the canard that Christians vote as directed by bishops and priests that they become political monarchs. They enjoy impunity to consequences, when they perpetrate serious crimes like rape and murder. It is because of us that they get away with murder. We are all implicated in this. Each one of us has played a role in the death of Sr. Abhaya and the many poor nuns killed since her murder. I urge my fellow Christians in every church to vote against the candidates bishops sponsor, so that the myth of our political slavery to bishops can be exploded once and for all. Enslaving us politically, or turning our conscience into a commodity for sale in the election market, is not the work of a bishop. It is a wicked and abominable thing to do; a horrible abuse of spiritual authority.

These holy wheeler-dealers sell Jesus Christ more profitably than Judas did. With that money they hire smart lawyers, bribe crime investigators, destroy evidence and spit in the face of justice. We are to blame in all this; we who prostrate ourselves before wolves in sheep’s clothing, and stifle our conscience in kow-towing to criminals. Let us offer a collective apology to the soul of Sr. Abhaya and the many victims who continue suffer silently in the clutches of sex-starved priest-predators.

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