Thiruvananthapuram:
A Kerala church has asked the family of a woman who was abducted and raped by 42 men almost two decades ago, to stay away till "matters settle down."
The alleged directive has in one stroke cut off the family's only link with the world beyond their home. The woman, who has lived for 17 years with the humiliation of being known as the Suryanelli gang-rape victim, does not go to church. She only leaves home to go to work.
But for her parents, the church was the one place that they drew solace and emotional sustenance from in the bleak years since their young daughter, then 16, was kidnapped raped by many men over 40 days in 1996. They were socially boycotted by friends and even close relatives and were forced to move out the town they had always lived in.
The woman's father, who has a heart ailment, says he would change three buses to get to church but never skipped a single Sunday visit, even though once there, he would keep to himself and only offers prayers.
Two weeks ago, he says, when he went up to thank the priest for praying for his family, he was reportedly advised not to attend church anymore till the controversy over his daughter's rape settles.
One of the men the woman has repeatedly accused of assaulting her is Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson PJ Kurien, who is also a prominent member of Kerala's Christian community. Her plea in court that Mr Kurien be made an accused in the Suryanelli case, which gets its name from the place in Kerala that she belongs to, was rejected last week.
Mr Kurien, a senior Congressman, was exonerated by the Supreme Court in 2007.
In 2005, the Kerala High Court tried 35 men in the case and convicted only one - a lawyer named Dharmarajan. This January, the Supreme Court set aside the verdict and ordered a re-trial within six months.
Since then, there has been a clamour by the opposition in Congress-ruled Kerala and at the Centre for Mr Kurien's resignation. The 72-year-old leader has refused to step down, saying he was cleared by the Supreme Court. The union government has also defended Mr Kurien, telling Parliament that three separate police investigations had cleared him.