While the rest of the world is flooded by stories of mistreatment — ranging from minor sexual assault to rape — of women with the hashtag #MeToo in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, women from a village in the West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh (AP) have reportedly been trying since 2015 to bring the local church pastor to justice for sexual abuse.
Their plight came to light only after AP Women's Commission chief Nannapaneni Rajakumari visited the Jagannadhapuram village on Wednesday.
Some women reportedly approached her after the visit and narrated their tales of woe to her, following which she urged action against the pastor, identified as one Diddie Ebenezer.
Shocking allegations
The women reportedly told Rajakumari of the various things Ebenezer used to do to them. "He would start by asking us to do simple things like giving him a massage, and then move his way up to more unspeakable actions," one of the women later told mediapersons.
"He would say that we have to follow whatever he says, or else something evil would befall us, no matter how disgusting his demand is," she added.
Another victim reportedly said the pastor would make them strip and stand nude by candle light, all in the name of offering "special prayers." She also said that four young women are still in the pastor's custody, and that he had confined them to him.
Following the allegations, Rajakumari reportedly ordered West Godavari Superintendent of Police M Ravi Prakash to arrest the pastor and secure the release of the four women who were being kept in confinement. The quartet would then be handed over to the state women's commission.
Long struggle
Interestingly, the women who said they were victimised by the pastor also claimed that they had been trying to get justice since 2015!
They said that the pastor had already been booked two years ago in a case of misbehaviour with women.
However, he managed to get himself extricated from it by exercising his influence with the police and the legal authorities, they added.
