Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) 25 April 2022: The arrest of Fr. Albert, the Parish Priest of Lalyana Catholic Church in Bhagpat district of Uttar Pradesh Parish, under POCSO is apparently a false case, said the PRO of the Meerut Catholic diocese under whose jurisdiction comes the church.

The 67-year-old priest was taken into custody after calling him to the local police station ostensibly to ‘discuss some important matter.’ However, as the priest reached the police station, he was told about a complaint against him filed by a woman accusing him of sexual assault of her minor daughter, and he was arrested.

According to a press statement issued by the diocese, the woman had approached the St Joseph’s Hindi medium school run by the Catholic church for admission of her two sons and a daughter on April 21. Sr Geetanjali, the Principal of the school stated that the admission forms were filled on April 21. She asked the woman to come back with Aadhaar card and T. C. of the children to complete the formalities.  

However, the woman, along with her children, approached Fr. Albert on April 22 and asked for fee concession, uniform, books etc. The priest told her that those would be taken care of once the admission formalities were completed.

But, on the very next day, on April 23, the police took the priest into custody.

Contradicting the newspaper reports, quoting the police, which said that the priest was molesting the girl for a month, the authorities of the Meerut diocese said that it was on April 21 that the woman and the children came to the school for the first time. This makes the allegation false and concocted.   

Fr. Roy, the PRO of Meerut diocese, stated that they were rest assured that innocence of the priest would be proved and he hoped that Fr. Albert would come out clean.