Priest arrested for alleged rape at church

Rajshahi, Sept 30 – A priest, accused of raping a minor indigenous girl, was arrested from Bishop House at Amchattar in Tanore upazila of Rajshahi on Tuesday night.

Pradeep Gregory, 50, is a priest of Mary Vianni Church.
Rab-5 members arrested him from the Bishop House around 11:30pm and handed him over to local police.
Rakibul Hasan, officer-in-charge of Tanore Police Station, said police sent the victim to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital’s One-Stop Crisis Centre for medical tests on Wednesday morning.
The accused priest will be produced before court, he said.
Father Pradeep was accused of keeping an underage indigenous girl confined at a church in Tanore for three days and raping her.
A case was filed against him on Tuesday night at Tanore Police Station.
OC Rakibul said they rescued the victim and brought her to the police station.
Locals said the girl went missing on Saturday from near the church where she was cutting grass. Her brother filed a police complaint the next day as she remained missing.
Around Monday noon, it was learnt that the girl was confined in Father Pradeep’s room. The victim’s family members and locals rescued her.
In the evening, a kangaroo court at the church found Pradeep guilty and shifted him to Rajshahi.
The church authorities kept the girl with the nuns and told the family that she would be returned if they withdraw their police complaint. The church also offered to bear all expenses of the girl until she turns 18.
On Tuesday, the girl’s brother went to the police station and informed that she had been found but was not handed over to the family yet. He said Father Patrick Gomes and kangaroo court head Kamel Mardi had kept his sister confined.
OC Rakibul and Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Sushanta Kumar rescued the girl from the church in the evening. – UNB