Tamil Nadu pastor John Jebaraj held from Kerala in assault case
A Tamil Nadu pastor, D John Jebaraj, was arrested in Kerala for sexually assaulting two minors and remanded to custody until April 25.
A 37-year-old pastor from Tamil Nadu was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting two girls on Saturday in Kerala and brought back to the state, an officer said on Sunday.
The All Women Police Station in Coimbatore was on the lookout for pastor D John Jebaraj for a week. He was traced by a special team from Tamil Nadu who found him hiding in Munnar in Kerala late night on April 12. Jebaraj is a pastor of Kings Generation Church.
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He was produced before a special court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (Pocso) in Coimbatore district on Sunday. He was remanded to judicial custody until April 25. He has been booked under sections 9(1)(m) (aggravated sexual harassment) and 10 (punishment for aggravated sexual assault) of the Pocso Act, said a police official.
“The alleged incident occurred in May last year at Jebaraj’s house. The complaint filed is that he sexually assaulted two minor girls who are 14 and 17 years old.” One of the survivors filed a complaint a week ago at the all women police station.
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“Three special teams were formed to trace the accused since he was missing for a week. A lookout notice was issued to prevent him from fleeing the country. One of the teams tracked him in Idukki’s Munnar,” Coimbatore city police commissioner A Saravana Sundar said.
However, station house officer (SHO) of the Munnar police Manesh Poulose said his unit wasn’t informed about the arrest nor had the knowledge of the location of the Tamil Nadu pastor John Jebaraj.
“We read from news reports that he was arrested from here. Tamil Nadu police came and arrested him from here. They did not inform us or seek our assistance in catching him. No cases are booked against him here,” he added.
(With inputs from Vishnu Varma in Kochi)
