NEW DELHI: Indian police said Tuesday they are investigating four Christian priests for allegedly raping and blackmailing a woman in a cycle of abuse and threats lasting almost 20 years.
The woman told police that her ordeal began while still a minor in the 1990s when an Orthodox priest at a church in the southern state of Kerala forced her into sex.
She confessed to a second priest, who allegedly blackmailed her into having sex with him. A further two two priests also threatened her and forced her into sex, the woman, who has not been named, told investigators.
“We filed a case on Monday based on her complaint. We have now started our investigation,” local police official S. Sreejith told AFP.
Her alleged suffering only came to light after an audio clip of her husband complaining to a church official went viral on social media, media reports said.
The Christan community in India, as elsewhere around the world, has been rocked by sexual abuse allegations.
Last year, a pastor accused of raping two women on the pretext of driving out evil spirits was arrested in eastern India.
In 2016, an Indian priest was sentenced to 40 years in prison for raping a 12-year-old girl.
Christianity is India’s third-biggest religion according to the 2011 census, with approximately 28 million followers or 2.3 percent of the population.
Sexual violence is rife in India with nearly 40,000 rape cases reported in 2016, which activists say is the tip of the iceberg as most cases go unreported.
Four Indian priests accused of rape, blackmail
Four Indian priests accused of rape, blackmail
- In 2016, an Indian priest was sentenced to 40 years in prison for raping a 12-year-old girl
- Christianity is India’s third-biggest religion according to the 2011 census
Philippines eyes closer cooperation on advanced defense tech with UAE
- Philippine-UAE defense agreement is Manila’s first with a Gulf country
- Philippines says new deal will also help modernize the Philippine military
MANILA: The Philippines is seeking stronger cooperation with the UAE on advanced defense technologies under their new defense pact — its first such deal with a Gulf country — the Department of National Defense said on Friday.
The Memorandum of Understanding on Defense Cooperation was signed during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s visit to Abu Dhabi earlier this week, which also saw the Philippines and the UAE signing a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, marking Manila’s first free trade pact with a Middle Eastern nation.
The Philippines-UAE defense agreement “seeks to deepen cooperation on advanced defense technologies and strengthen the security relations” between the two countries, DND spokesperson Assistant Secretary Arsenio Andolong said in a statement.
The MoU “will serve as a platform for collaboration on unmanned aerial systems, electronic warfare, and naval systems, in line with the ongoing capability development and modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” he added.
It is also expected to further military relations through education and training, intelligence and security sharing, and cooperation in the fields of anti-terrorism, maritime security, and peacekeeping operations.
The UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has described security and defense as “very promising fields” in Philippine-UAE ties, pointing to Abu Dhabi being the location of Manila’s first defense attache office in the Middle East.
The UAE is the latest in a growing list of countries with defense and security deals with the Philippines, which also signed a new defense pact with Japan this week.
“I would argue that this is more significant than it looks on first read, precisely because it’s the Philippines’ first formal defense cooperation agreement with a Gulf state. It signals diversification,” Rikard Jalkebro, associate professor at the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi, told Arab News.
“Manila is widening its security partnerships beyond its traditional circles at a time when strategic pressure is rising in the South China Sea, and the global security environment is (volatile) across regions.”
Though the MoU is not an alliance and does not create mutual defense obligations, it provides a “framework for the practical stuff that matters,” including access, training pathways, procurement discussions and structured channels” for security cooperation, he added.
“For the UAE, the timing also makes sense, seeing that Abu Dhabi is no longer only a defense buyer; it’s increasingly a producer and exporter, particularly in areas like UAS (unmanned aerial systems) and enabling technologies. That opens a new lane for Manila to explore capability-building, technology transfer, and industry-to-industry links,” Jalkebro said.
The defense deal also matters geopolitically, as events in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region have ripple effects on global stability and commerce.
“So, a Philippines–UAE defense framework can be read as a pragmatic hedge, strengthening resilience and options without formally taking sides,” Jalkebro said.
