New Delhi: A petition filed by a rape victim in Kerala is scheduled to be heard in the Supreme Court today. In fact, a rape victim from Kottiyur in Kerala has moved the court seeking permission to marry Catholic priest Robin Vadakkumchery. Pastor Robin raped the victim several years ago. The accused has been serving a jail term for 20 years now. The victim later gave birth to a baby boy. The victim had filed a petition on July 17. In the petition, the 22-year-old victim has now sought the permission of the apex court to marry the accused citing admission of her five-year-old son to a school that requires a marriage certificate.

In fact, the woman was a minor at the time of the incident and gave birth to a child after the rape. He has urged the former pastor to be released on bail. Robin Wadkkumcherry was convicted in 2019 by a court hearing case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. The woman then reversed her statement and claimed that the two had a consensual physical relationship. The Kerala High Court dismissed a petition filed by Vadakkumchery urging bail to marry the victim. The high court in its order had said that the lower court's finding that the victim was a minor at the time of rape is still in force and the appeal against the conviction of the accused is still pending before her.

The Kerala High Court had said that allowing parties to marry if the lower court's verdict persisted would mean judicial approval of marriage. The court had on July 13, 2018, termed the charges relating to a minor and the then Catholic priest in the Kottiyur rape case as "very serious". The court had refused to stay the hearing of the case.

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