Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Catholic Pullamala, Kollam, Kerala, India · 2022

India: seminary rector sentenced to 18 years for sexually abusing four minor seminarians in his care

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

parish priest and rector of a minor seminary (Society of St Eugene de Mazenod)

Organization

Society of St Eugene de Mazenod

Spiritual nexus

The four minor seminarians lived with the defendant at his parsonage as his formation students; that residential and clerical authority over them as their rector is what gave him sustained private access.

Pastoral or clerical authority
Guru or spiritual-teacher authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2022-04-30 · conviction and sentence

Additional Sessions Court (POCSO), Kollam, Kerala, India. Fr Thomas Parekkulam, rector of a minor seminary at Pullamala where four boys aged 16 lived with him as students, was convicted of sexually abusing all four over a period in 2017. Additional District and Sessions Judge (POCSO) K N Sujith sentenced him to five years' rigorous imprisonment on each of three counts and three years on a fourth, running consecutively for a total of 18 years, plus compensation of Rs 100,000 per victim.

Documented coercion mechanisms

residential authority over minor seminarians living with him
clerical authority as their formator

Primary record

Sources

national newspaper court reporting verdict and sentencing report 'Christian Cleric Thomas Parekkulam Sentenced To 18 Yrs Of Rigorous Imprisonment For Sexually Assaulting 4 Minor Boys', Organiser, 1 May 2022.: Report of the sentencing with the sentence breakdown and seminary/rector context.
national newspaper court reporting verdict and sentencing report 'Kerala: Christian Priest Sentenced To 18 Years RI For Sexually Assaulting Four teen Boys In 2017', Outlook India.: National-magazine report corroborating the conviction and sentence.

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