The disease that has caught the Church in Kerala seems to be spreading to other states. Now, a Bishop of Mysore and a Father of a Church have been accused of seeking sexual favor from a woman who worked in their own church. The women who withheld her name, has accused Bishop of Mysore Diocese KA William and Father Leslie Moras of asking sexual favors from her, involving in illicit relationships with other women and indulging in financial fraud for personal reasons. The woman has recorded a video of her allegations and made it public. Samvada news portal has uploaded her video on their Facebook page and YouTube channel.
In the video the women starts say that she is doing this so that her pleas reaches the cardinals and church higher authorities. She claims that she is originally from a Hindu family and married a Christian and got baptised. They have a 2 year old child. She says she had a ‘very bad experience’ while working in the Church after Bishop KA Williams took charge in 2017. She says that she could not give out the details in public as her life and that of her family is under threat.
Bishop and Father ask Sexual Favors
The woman worked for the Church family comission for 5 years. When William took charge in 2017 he started ruling like Hitler. He is unfit to be in this position, she says in the video. Later, Father Leslie Moras took charge of the Family Commission and she was working under him. Father Leslie used to call her after 8PM to discuss about work and submit reports. After few days, she told him it was not possible to come that late. He asked her to come at 6PM. Whenever she went to him, he used to gaze at her lustfully and it was disgusting to see the Church father seeing her like that, the woman says. She charges that Bishop KA William also used to abuse her with bad words and filthy language in front of everyone. Then Father Leslie Moras told her that if she compromise and has sex with him, she can continue to work there else shhe cannot continue to work. “It was disgusting to hear this from the father of the Church”, she says in the video. She says that she went under depression.
As she did not comply to his desires, he continued to insult me. In May 2018, she resigned from her job at the Church. Whatever sexual favor the Church father was asking was known to Bishop Williams as there was a CCTV camera in his room and everything was recorded. The CC cameras were connected directly to the Bishop’s room and he was aware of everything that was happening. She charges that both wanted to use her for sex and when she refused they started to find fault with her work, abuse and insult her in front of everyone.
While she worked for the church, she also used to go out on field duty for Church family commissions work. There she heard a lot of facts about Father Leslie. “I then started to collect the proof agaisnt him and other fathers which I wanted to submit to the cardinals”, she says. When she started to collect proof about the Church fathers with the help of a journalist of a local newspaper, they came across lot of documents that showed that Father Leslie had a illegitimate wife and child and had also built a house. He had also brought a car for them. The father had illicit relationship with his female accountant too and she had got a car, costly phone from the father. But the journalist gave out her name which became known to the Church fathers and Bishop.
Blindfolded and Kidnapped
In 2018, she quit her job and started to work as a lobby manager for a automotive company. It was a month in the new company, when one day 3 men came to her office and spoke to the manager. She was then handed over a phone where Bishop KA William spoke and threatened her that she has to accompany the men immediately else her family will be in danger. When she refused, one of the men showed her a video of her son playing. She came to know that they were tracking her family members after she spoke to her mother to confirm. Out of fear, she accompanied them. They confiscated her mobile and blindfolded her. She was taken in the case for about 20 minutes. When they reached the place and went inside, she was met by Bishop Williams, Father Leslie Moras and Father Vijaykumar. Father Leslie threatened her and Bishop asked her why is she doing this and who is behind her. She told them that there was no one behind her and was unhappy only because they asked sexual favors from her, treated her badly and she wanted to expose them. They then said that there will be no Journalist who can help as he can never come back now and asked her to stop exposing them.
They then threatened her by showing the photos of her father who was in Shimoga, mother, husband and showed all the details they had about her. They had someone follow her always from home to office and knew all that she did and everyone she met. Then the Bishop asked her if she wanted money. She refused and said that I am not doing this for money or any favors. The Bishop then said that he is a monster and can kill anyone who goes against him. She agreed not to pursue any proof against them and requested them not to harm her family. After threatening her again, they brought her back to her office. They returned her phone only after erasing all data.
But her travails did not end here. Those who kidnapped her followed her everyday for 6 months to ensure that she was not working against them or collecting proofs to expose them. After this episode, she says that she went into depression again and lost all interest in life. “I cannot enjoy, play with my kid or pray to god too. I was a joyful person but now there is no joy left in me.”, she rues in the video.
She further says that she did not file a case against the Bishop and others as she did not have any support or money to pursue the case. She says that even today her life is under threat and if anything happens to her, Bishop Williams will be responsible. He is unfit to be in that position, she says and charges that he is also misusing the money meant for poor for his own personal purposes. At the end, she requests the higher Church authorities to conduct an investigation on the Bishop and take necessary action.
Mysore Police refuse to file FIR
Once the video went public, the women filed a complaint at the Lashkar Mohallah police station. However, the police have refused to file an FIR in this regard against the accused Bishop and Fathers. This is the second such case in as many months that has come to public notice in Karnataka where Church authorities have been caught asking sexual favors from Church members. Earlier this year, a social activist had exposed a land fraud by the Bishop of Mangaluru. This was covered in detailed report in Organiser.
GoaChronicle has reported that 37 Priests have appealed to Pope Francis to remove Bishop of Mysore on accusations of marriage, parenthood, sexual liaisons and corruption. In their letter the priests further elaborate on the numerous cases of sexual exploitation and corruption against Bishop William during his career in clergy. However, nothing seems to have happened till now.
After Kerala, the Church in Karnataka seems to be the caught in its own web where their own members are exposing the misdeeds of the Fathers and Bishop.
