Chennai , April 6: The Archbishop of Madras, Rev. Father M. Chinnappa, has asked Fr Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, a priest facing charges of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Minnesota, to return to the United States to face a probe.
The archbishop has also directed the Bishop of Ooty, Dr A. Amalraj, to take action on the priest, who belongs to the diocese of Udhagamandalam. “I have asked the Bishop of Ooty to comply with the demands of the case,” said the archbishop. “Fr Jeyapaul must return to the US if necessary for further investigations. He has to oblige. There is no way out.”
Meanwhile, Fr Jeyapaul, who works at the Bishop’s House in the St. Mary’s Hill area in Ooty, strongly denied the allegations against him. “They are baseless and false and I am ready to face to any inquiry,” said the calm and composed priest who met a group of mediapersons on Tuesday morning.
The 50-year-old priest, a native of Trichy district, said he suspected there were some ulterior motives behind the allegations. He added that he would go to the US to face the inquiry if his superiors gave him permission. Fr Jeyapaul later left for Chennai to consult lawyers. However, the Bishop of Ooty, who met the media in his chamber on Tuesday afternoon, said the diocese had referred the matter to the Catholic Bishops Council of India for further action.
Dr Amalraj said that Fr Jeyapaul worked at the Diocese of Crookston in Minnesota from September 2004 to August 2005. He admitted that the sexual abuse allegations had come before the diocese earlier and it conducted a probe into the matter but could not prove anything.
Since the same allegations had come to the limelight through the press, the diocese was studying the matter in detail, he said.
Age Correspondent
With Agency Inputs