An ex-catholic priest, identified as Vadakkancheril Mathew alias Robin Vadakkancheril, who was convinced of raping a minor girl in 2016, has moved the Kerala High Court on Wednesday seeking temporary suspension of his 20-year sentence to enable him to marry the rape survivor. The move has invited the wrath and condemnation of people.

In his plea, the 52-year-old priest reportedly said that the only impediment to the marriage was his priesthood and now he is eligible for entering wedlock as he had been dispensed with priestly duties and rights by the Pope and has been reduced to the state of a layman. The girl is now 20 years old. According to the prosecution, in May 2016, the accused induced the victim to go to his bedroom. Thereafter he committed rape and sexual assault against the victim. As a result, the victim became pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy in May 2017. The baby has been under the supervision of the Child Welfare Committee and has been part of two orphanages. Regarding the priest's suggestion, public prosecutor Suman Chakravarti reportedly said, "Every rape convict can then offer to marry the survivor, we cannot encourage such suggestions."

Back during the trial, despite the biological father of the girl taking responsibility for the crime, the police got a tip-off and unraveled the truth. "During the trial, as an accused, he kept refuting the charges tooth and nail till the DNA test was done... even then he tried to portray that this was a case of mutual consent. This was proved wrong by the prosecutor, since the survivor was proved to be a minor despite her parents turning hostile as witnesses," a senior counsel reportedly told a news agency.