Public and social activists urged the Tamil Nadu Government to order the sealing of an illegal ACA Jesus miracles ministries Church at Adambakkam run by a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) accused Sri Lankan-based couple.
The accused, Sherod Manohar (58), and his wife Helen (55), hailing from Sri Lanka, came to Chennai a few years ago and ran a church in Adambakkam. It is alleged that the pastor used to misbehave with young women and children, who were visiting the church, and his wife, Helen, would also favor him. None come forward to file a complaint against the pastor. Last November, the grandmother of the 16-year-old girl filed a complaint at the Madipakkam all-women police station accusing the pastor of sexually assaulting the girl. The police who visited the spot held inquiries. After confirming that Manohar had sexually assaulted children, the police arrested him. His wife Helen was also detained for supporting him in the crime.
The police registered a case under POSCO Act, and during the inquiry, they found that the couple had misbehaved with many women and children. Police are also investigating an allegation that the pastor sexually harassed a 24-year-old woman. It is alleged that the pastor had sexually assaulted three Dalit girls and one Muslim girl last year, who made an in-camera statement to an Alandur court.
The couple has been running an illegal church at Adambakkam without legal sanction (Survey No. 233/52) in a thickly populated residential area. They also infringed on a waterway measuring 650 square feet. They also run an eatery and catering unit alongside the church encroaching common land; the couple using their influence, got a domestic tariff power connection but are using it for commercial purposes, Social activist cum–national level athletic sportsperson (gold winner) and actress Emi in an interview with a local Tamil daily that she said an aged woman complaint earlier that Sherod had forcefully separated from her daughter in law and two granddaughters from her. She made a complaint to the police. Emi said she, the aged woman and Nirmala Immanuvel met Chennai Police Commissioner and preferred a complaint. He ordered an investigation by his people, and Sheord and his wife; their car driver, have been arrested.
The couple has been remanded in Puzhal jail. She said the pastor also cheated women who came to church by promising them to get loans from banks and helping them enrol in women’s self-help groups. Twenty-two such victims complained to the St Thomas Mount police station.
Now she and the public urged the authorities to seal the church, eatery and catering unit where the crime had occurred. They preferred a memorandum to the revenue authorities and met the Chennai Collector Amirtha Jothi more than five times, south Chennai RDO, Tehsildar. Still, nothing happened. Emi said they are planning to file PIL in Madras High Court; the couple, who came out on bail two months ago, is trying to sell the properties.
Meanwhile, a special POCSO court in Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district has sentenced pastor J Josephraja to lifetime imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 17 year –old- mentally challenged girl.
The accused pastor, while serving in a church at Rajapalayam on May 2022, sexually assaulted a girl in church. Based on a complaint, he was arrested. The special court for the exclusive trail of cases under the POCSO act, which heard the case found Josephraja guilty and convicted him under sec. 6 of the act.
Judge Poorna Jeya Anand sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for a lifetime and fined him Rs. 1 lakh and two years’ simple imprisonment if he defaults to pay the fine. The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court recently rejected his petition seeking to quash the detention order passed under Goondas Act. Soon after his arrest in the case, the district collector passed a detention order branding him as a ‘sexual’ offender in July last.
In another incident, 53-year-old Pentecost Pastor Velayudham Stephan of Koneripalayam of Perambalur district has been accused of a student employed in his field. The girl’s relative, Dharmadurai (31), is also charged with raping the girl. On hearing the same, the victim’s father has been making marriage arrangements for her daughter with the accused Dharmadurai.
Acting on a tip, the district child welfare prevented child marriage and rescued the girl on April 24. The pastor and his relative have been arrested under POCSO and other relevant acts.
The victims just have written plus one examination. Media reports say the girl stayed with her grandparents’ house in Salem and continued her studies. When she returned to her maternal uncle’s home after exams, dharmadurai, on April 8, sexually assaulted the girl.
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