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Catholic priest arrested for molesting cook

Bibhuti Mishra in Mayurbhanj

A Catholic priest has been arrested on charges of molesting his cook, a tribal woman, in Mayurbhanj district of Orissa. The police in the district, which hit headlines last year with the rape of a Catholic nun, is keeping a close watch on the situation.

The FIR lodged by the 25-year-old victim says that Father Harman Kerketta, one of the two priests attached to the Ghatiduba Catholic Church, tried to rape her on December 21 last year. She has alleged that the priest, who was heavily drunk then, threatened her with dire consequence if she did not give in. The woman, however, managed to escape.

She lodged an FIR at the nearby Bangiriposhi police station on January 7.

The FIR was not accepted immediately because the police hoped that the issue could be sorted out mutually. But when the villagers staged a sit-in before the church and also threatened to attack Father Karketta, the FIR was accepted and the priest was arrested.

Father Karketta is a native of Ranchi in Bihar and the woman had been working as his cook for the last four years. The woman's husband worked as a driver with the church.

The victim explained the delay in lodging the FIR saying that that she was worried about her husband's job. In fact the church terminated her husband's service immediately after she filed the complaint.

The villagers have alleged that the father had misbehaved with other women too. These charges were confirmed, though informally, by a senior functionary of the Catholic Diocese at Balasore. He said that diocese was contemplating to transfer Father Karketta following numerous complaints of misbehaviour against him.

Mayurbhanj Collector D K Singh, meanwhile, told rediff.com that all steps had been taken to meet with any eventuality. ''Tension cannot be ruled out. I have deputed sub-divisional magistrates and some senior police officers to tour the area and ask people to maintain peace,'' he added.

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