Panchjanya now slams churches, priests over 'misdeeds'

By Santosh Kumar Pathak

New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS) RSS-linked magazine "Panchanya", in its latest edition, has targetted the Christian church and priests over the widespread allegations of sexual exploitation.

The magazine, that would hit the stands on October 17, has, in the cover story, dwelt on the complaints of sexual exploitation of children and nuns across the world, and demanded an investigation into those allegations in India also.

Citing the instance of France, the magazine said over 3 lakh children were exploited between 1950-2020, and around 3,000 priests were named as accused.

Panchjanya mentioned that an independent enquiry committee set up in 2018 came across those details during its probe.

It also termed Pope Francis' apology in 2019 over these complaints and incidents a "formality under pressure", noting that despite it, episodes of similar nature have not seen any downward trend.

It also cited complaints and incidents of sexual exploitation reported from various parts of India, underlining that the people of the country have been seeking probe against the church and priests.

Claiming that such incidents are on the rise in India too, it referred to several incidents in Jharkhand and Kerala, besides the rape of a woman in Missionary College, Chennai, and of a nun from Kerala.

Panchjanya held the style of functioning of the church responsible for the worldwide decline in the number of nuns.

It said that in Kerala, the number of nuns has reduced to only 25 per cent and therefore, the church is taking into its fold, girls from poor families in states such as Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Odisha "under the guise of deceit, coercion and allurement".

Earlier, in its October 10 edition's cover story, the RSS-linked magazine had slammed the Congress and its former President Rahul Gandhi, saying the country's oldest political party is passing through its "worst-ever phase".

The Panchjanya had been in the news for its previous issues attacking Infosys and its leader N.R. Narayana Murthy over the glitches in the income tax portal, and then Amazon and its chief, Jeff Bezos, calling the global e-commerce giant "East India Company 2.0".