Divine Shroud and An F.I.R. Charges of rape and murder levelled against a high-profile Christian spiritual centre in Kerala have brought Congress and CPI(M) together against the police and BJP.

12/10/2016.
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Sub : Divine Shroud and An F.I.R.
Charges of rape and murder levelled against a high-profile Christian spiritual centre in Kerala have brought Congress and CPI(M) together against the police and BJP.

Ref : Media reports

DRC at Muringur
1.

It has all the trappings of a sensational criminal story-a high-profile spiritual centre, rocked by allegations of murder, rape, drug abuse. The Divine Retreat Centre (DRC) at Thrissur, Kerala-the country's largest Christian meditation and healing institution run by the Vincentian Catholic priests-which attracts over 10,000 people every day for its "divine" prayer and faith-healing sessions held simultaneously in seven languages, faces a series of stunning charges in an FIR filed by a special investigation team (SIT) of the Kerala police recently. Criminal cases have been registered against Father George Panakkal, director, Father Mathew Thadathil, procurator, and other office-bearers of the DRC, which runs a host of institutions including a general hospital, a mental care home, a home for AIDS patients, an orphanage, a de-addiction centre, an old age centre, a Bible college, a home for widows, and even a marriage bureau.

2. Devotees at prayer :

The charges are not easy to dismiss. The investigation against the 15-year-old centre, headquartered in a four-acre campus near the national highway in Muringur, Chalakkudy, was ordered by the Kerala High Court and carried out by an SIT headed by an IGP nominated by the court, with stern warning against any interference by the Government. The court dismissed a complaint filed by the centre against police raids on its premises, home to the sick and elderly. Following this, the centre approached the Supreme Court with a special leave petition against the investigation. Last month, the apex court issued notices to the chief secretary of the state, SIT and the IGP in charge.

The FIR has created havoc in the state as almost all political organisations have expressed displeasure at "attempts to denigrate" the popular and powerful DRC. A few weeks before it was filed, Pinarayi Vijayan, state secretary of the ruling CPI(M), had visited the centre and slammed the police raid as "a high-handed act against the centre, which was doing a great, humanitarian task of helping the needy and the sick". Former chief minister Oommen Chandy of the Congress also expressed displeasure at the police's "rude ways towards a centre of meditation". But organisations attached to BJP have urged authorities to shut down the centre.

"This is a conspiracy to denigrate the name of the centre."

It all began with an anonymous letter received by the high court in October 2005. The letter and the compact discs sent along with it contained many serious allegations against the DRC, including rape, suspected murder, financial misappropriation including violation of foreign exchange regulations, and wrongful inclusion of the names of inmates in the electoral list. The most sensational among the charges was the alleged suppression, by the centre, of a complaint made by a former inmate that she was raped by the procurator. It was also alleged that a number of unidentified dead bodies were found in and around the centre.

In response to this, high court judge Justice K. Padmanabhan Nair ordered the police to investigate the charges and also directed an SIT to be constituted under Inspector General Vinson M. Paul. The team conducted raids at DRC in September last year, seizingdocuments and videotaping the complex. On the basis of testimonials by witnesses against the centre, the FIR includes the following charges: between 1991 and 2006, as many as 974 people died-not all were natural deaths-at the centre and the dead bodies disposed of without investigation; many developed mental illnesses after going to DRC, particularly after unauthorised administration of psychotropic drugs; patients were kept in forced confinement; the centre's medical institutions have no requisite licences or statutory facilities; and DRC had obtained pecuniary favours from the Government by misrepresenting or withholding facts. Mariyapalana Society, an NGO run by local Catholics, also complained that the centre had tried to receive foreign donations by manipulating documents.

3. CHARGE-SHEET

The FIR against DRC includes the following charges:

*There were 974 deaths, not all natural, between 1991 and 2006, at the centre.

*Bodies were disposed of without investigation.

*People developed mental illnesses after being administered psychotropic drugs.

*Patients were kept in forced confinement at the centre.

*The DRC's medical wing does not have the requisite licences.

*The centre had obtained pecuniary favours from the government by misrepresenting or withholding facts.

"Everything at DRC is shrouded in mystery. They do not respect laws regarding how to run a hospital or what to do if a death occurs there. They have not given satisfactory explanations for the charges made against them," says a senior SIT official. But the priests dismiss all charges as baseless. "We strongly feel there is a conspiracy to denigrate the name of the centre," says Panakkal. However, he refuses to divulge the details of the conspiracy, as the case is about to come up in the court. "There could have been 974 deaths at the centre. But don't forget that at our home for AIDS patients, our old age home and the general hospital, we have at least 400 people on the verge of dying at any point of time," he says, dismissing the charge that dead bodies were buried without intimating the authorities. The director also cites a report of an earlier police investigation, which had dismissed these charges levelled earlier against the centre. "The IG heading SIT has not visited DRC in the last two years, nor has he met us to find out what we have to say. It is unconstitutional to vest all powers in a police officer without any government control," he says.

Dr K.P. Hormis, a psychiatrist attached to the centre and a former civil surgeon, denies that drugs were administered without his authorisation, and that there were any unnatural deaths. But does the hospital have the required licence? "We are not running a mental hospital, but a mental care home, for which we have a licence from the local panchayat. We have also applied for Government registration," says Panakkal, adding that DRC hasn't received any complaint from the state Drugs Control Department, which is in charge of monitoring the use of drugs. According to the priest, the FIR was prepared on the basis of allegations made by witnesses who were longtime opponents of the centre.

The centre also alleges that evidence that proved wrong many of the allegations made in the original anonymous letter to the court is not mentioned in the FIR. "The allegation that a woman was raped and impregnated by a priest at the centre was proved false by a DNA test. The finding by an earlier police investigation that no unnatural deaths had occurred at the centre has also been ignored. It proves the SIT investigation was neither transparent nor honest," says the director.

DRC says the filing of the FIR also was suspect. It was filed hurriedly on the day the Supreme Court issued notices to the SIT in response to the petition filed by the centre. "Why did they take so long to file the FIR? Why did they file it a day before the case came up in the Supreme Court and got it signed by the magistrate at his home at 10 in the night?" asks Panakkal, adding that the police raid was completely highhanded and that the sick inmates were yet to come out of the shock. "They even made a videofilm of the AIDS patients here, which is against universal law," he says.

The FIR has put the political parties which have supported DRC on the defensive. "We are not against the law taking its course. What we had objected to was the high-handedness of the police," says Vaikom Viswan, convener of the ruling Left Democratic Front. Congress leaders, too, have chosen to lie low. Interestingly, the strongest defence of DRC after the filing of the FIR has come from Janapaksham, a dissident group of BJP. "It is unfair to level baseless allegations against an institution which serves the people," says its leader K. Raman Pillai, former state president of BJP. While the reputation of the centre is clearly at stake, charges continue to fly thick and fast..

Thank you for reading
           JAIHIND.
            To be continued...

Father George Panakkal, Director, DRC