Kurien meets pope, rape victim’s mother cries foul He is leading a team to the Vatican to witness papal ceremony.

Kurien meets pope, rape victim’s mother cries foul

He is leading a team to the Vatican to witness papal ceremony.

(Photo Courtesy: NDTV)

Kochi:  P J Kurien, a parliamentarian accused of raping a school girl, today met Pope Francis during the latter’s inaugural ceremony at the Vatican.

Kurien, who is the deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha, is leading the Indian delegation to Rome for the ceremony, that also included his wife and private secretary.

Activists across the country had condemned the government’s decision to send Kurien, who has been allegedly linked with the gang rape of a teenager in 1996, to head the delegation to witness papal ceremony.

Meanwhile, the rape victim’s mother cried foul over his visit to Rome.

“It is for sinners like us to stay away and for puritans like him to meet the pope,” she said.

The Catholic victim, then a 16-year-old schoolgirl, has accused Kurien of being one of the 42 men who raped her after she was abducted and kept in custody for 40 days in Kerala.

Kurien, now 72, was acquitted of rape in a trial in 2005.

But he has come under pressure the girl demanded a fresh investigation following a storm over the recent gang rape of a student in New Delhi last December.

Source: NDTV