On 24 August 2005, the diocese of Crookton in Minnesota received an anonymous complaint stating that an Indian priest, Father Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, working at the church had sexually assaulted a minor.



A second victim later came forward. Another young girl who had wanted to become a nun had been sexually assaulted by Father Jeyapaul. The man hailing from Tamil Nadu rushed back to India and after almost a decade of legal wrangles, he was convicted by the Minnesota court and sentenced to a year in prison in 2015.

After serving a shorter prison term, Jeyapaul returned to India a few months ago. And in a move that has shocked child right activists in the state; the Roman Catholic Church of Southern India has now lifted the suspension against him.

He was sentenced to a shorter term in jail based on a plea bargain, with the condition that he does not get back to ministerial duties or get in contact with children.

While the international media had first reported on the lifting of the suspension, the Ootacamund Diocese in Tamil Nadu confirmed to The News Minute that the church was not averse to allotting a role to Father Jeyapaul in the church ministry.