Sexual abuse in Church: Two more priests surrender

Agencies

August 13, 2018

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 13: Two more Kerala priests, accused of sexually abusing a woman, surrendered before police today, officials said. Father Abraham Varghese alias Sony surrendered before a court at Thiruvalla while Fr Jaise K George at the crime branch office in Kollam this morning, the police said.

The clergymen surrendered after the Supreme Court cancelled their interim protection from the arrest and asked them to surrender by Monday. A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan had said the two priests were at liberty to seek regular bail once they surrendered.

The two had moved the apex court seeking anticipatory bail in the case after their plea was rejected by the Kerala High Court on July 11. Two other priests accused in the case – Fr Job Mathew and Johnson V Mathew – had already surrendered before the police and granted bail by the high court.

The four priests, attached to the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, were accused of sexually abusing a 34-year-old married woman by using her confessional statement. The victim’s husband had accused them of using her confession to “blackmail” and “sexually abuse” her.

The crime branch of the Kerala Police had on July 2 registered a case against them on the basis of a statement given by the woman belonging to the same church. She accused them of sexually assaulting her on many occasions.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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