Bengaluru: An FIR has been registered against archbishop P.K. Samuel of the Central Diocese, Bengaluru (Church of South India) and his associate, Vinod Dasan, for allegedly sexually harassing and intimidating a woman, who attempted suicide and is being treated in hospital.
The Shivajinagar police recorded the woman's statement and later questioned the two men, who have denied the allegations and claimed they don't know her.
The woman told the police that Dasan had tried to intimidate her into withdrawing a case she had filed against him in 2013 and blamed him for her divorce from her first husband.
The woman later married again and moved to Salem to live with her in-laws. But when she visited her mother's house in Bengaluru on January 13, Dasan allegedly invited her to the Trinity Church on January 21 with her husband. When they went to the church, Dasan is said to have asked her to meet archbishop Samuel outside his home and when she did, he requested her to withdraw the case against his associate and even offered her a permanent job in the diocese in return, according to the woman.
She alleged that the archbishop then put his hand around her shoulder and misbehaved with her and when she tried to raise an alarm, threatened her.
Depressed over the alleged incident, the woman said she tried to kill herself by consuming pesticides. The archbishop has been booked under Sections 354 (Assaulting or using criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 506 (criminal intimidation), 504, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
DCP (East), Rahul Kumar Shahapurwad said, “The archbishop was summoned and his statement was recorded.”
