“The Bible and rifle now go together,” said VHP President Ashok Singhal

“The Bible and rifle now go together,” said VHP President Ashok Singhal

Mr Ashok Singhal while in Orissa criticized Christian and Church for supporting violence and motivating Maoist guerrillas to kill old Hindu Monk Swamy Lakshmanand Saraswati for resisting Christian conversion activities among Hindu tribals of Orissa and promoting reconversion of Christian tribals to Hindu fold.

Also Mr Singhal came down heavily on Orissa state government for allowing European Union delegation to visit riot hit area of the state and to allow them to hold close door meeting with state Church leaders and thereby compromising National interest.

He further criticized the Church for it's conversion drive which according to him was solely responsible for the riots occurred in the state during 2008-09 after assassination of Swami ji.

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Priests, nun held in Abhaya murder case

DH News Service, Thiruvananthapuram:

Sixteen years after the crime was committed, the CBI arrested two priests and a nun in the Sister Abhaya murder case and presented them in court on Wednesday.

Father Thomas M Kottur and Father Dr E Jose Puthrikayil were arrested on Tuesday while Sister Stefi was picked up on Wednesday. All three accused had undergone narco-analysis tests in Bangalore some months ago when they reportedly admitted to the crime. They were produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ernakulam, who remanded them in CBI custody till December 2.

Apart from the narcoanalysis test results, the CBI has also taken a fresh statement from Sanju P Mathew who lives near the Pius X Convent Hostel in Kottayam where the body of Sister Abhaya was found. This statement which was recorded by the First Class Judicial Magistrate on Tuesday was passed on to the Ernakulam CJM court on Wednesday. The CBI has not divulged any other fresh information to the court though SP Ashokkumar told newsmen that the agency had evidence in its possession. The official said that revealing anything further would hamper the future course of their probe.




Nothing much is known about Mathew's connection with the case except that he was in college when Sister Abhaya died. Mathew, whose statement is believed to be the only "hard evidence" which led to the arrests was subject to polygraph and brain-mapping tests by the CBI earlier. The Kottayam Archdiocese Jagratha Samithi has expressed doubts about the "fresh revelations" in Mathew's statements that enabled the CBI to carry out the arrests.

The body of Abhaya, a 21-year-old inmate of the Knanaya Catholic Church-run Pius X Convent hostel was found in a well on the convent premises in March 1992. The murder was written off by the State police as an accident. From thereon, it has been a massive cover-up effort. Cops manipulated the FIR, the first photo of the body disappeared from their custody and in a startling incident, the nun's diary and her dress were also destroyed later.

Though the CBI managed to conclude it as a case of murder, the six previous teams of the agency which investigated it separately could not lay its hand on a shred of evidence that pinpointed the culprit.

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Church in Kerala is rocked by sex scandals

In 1995, Father Cyriac Karthikapally, a parish priest of Kurumbanadam church in the Changanacherry archdiocese, lured a 15-year old school-going girl to his bedroom. For the next two years, the priest entered into a sexual relationship with the minor girl that she gave birth to a female child on September 15, 1998...........
In 1993, the dead body of 21-year old Sister Abhaya was flushed out from the well of St Pious X Convent, Kottayam..........
In 1998, Sr Jyothis of Sacred Heart Convent at Mukkom in Kozhikode district was found murdered in the convent's well.........
Last month,a gang of students belonging to the Student Federation of India attacked Father Geo Pulickal, principal of the Catholic-run Nirmalagiri College at Koothuparamba in north Kerala. SFI students allege that the principal is a sodomite and subjected a college student to sodomy and two priests were involved in a ragging case in the college hostel........




George Iype in Kochi

** In 1995, Father Cyriac Karthikapally, a parish priest of Kurumbanadam church in the Changanacherry archdiocese, lured a 15-year old school-going girl to his bedroom. For the next two years, the priest entered into a sexual relationship with the minor girl that she gave birth to a female child on September 15, 1998.

The Changacherry police on Tuesday registered a case against Father Karthikapally for raping, abducting and compelling the victim for abortion. The police has submitted before the local judicial court a first information report against the priest under sections 315, 316 and 336 of the Indian Penal Code that deal with provisions on rape and abduction.

** In 1993, the dead body of 21-year old Sister Abhaya was flushed out from the well of St Pious X Convent, Kottayam. Six years of police investigations reached nowhere and in July this year the Central Bureau of Investigation closed the sensitive case as it failed to fix the liability of the young nun's murder. Church critics circulate two theories for Sr Abhaya's death. One, she was murdered when she refused the sexual advances of a priest or a bishop. Second, she was killed because she knew that some of her colleague nuns had sexual relationships with two Catholic priests -- Fr Jose Putrukayal and Fr Thomas Kattoor.

While the Sister Abhaya case is closed forever, a popular Malayalam movie was released three weeks back on the incident. Titled Crime File and starring superstar Suresh Gopi, the film depicts the Church in bad light by portraying what many say "the real story" behind Sister Abhaya's murder.

** In 1998, Sr Jyothis of Sacred Heart Convent at Mukkom in Kozhikode district was found murdered in the convent's well. Investigations so far have made no headway, but the police suspect that sexual motive could have been the cause behind the murder.

Recently, Sister Jyothis's father, K M Jose filed a case in the Kerala high court pleading for a CBI investigation into his daughter's murder in the convent.

** Last month, a gang of students belonging to the Student Federation of India attacked Father Geo Pulickal, principal of the Catholic-run Nirmalagiri College at Koothuparamba in north Kerala. SFI students allege that the principal is a sodomite and subjected a college student to sodomy and two priests were involved in a ragging case in the college hostel. Posters depicting the priests and nuns in bad light appeared on the college campus.

The tug of war between the SFI activists and the Catholic church over the attack on Father Pulickal reached a flashpoint when Nirmalagiri College was closed last month and later re-opened after mediations between the Church officials and the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist.

Is the vow of celibacy that priests and nuns adopt to serve the Catholic church in Kerala becoming suspect? Why are increasing numbers of sex scandals involving the clergy coming up in the state?

Church leaders, especially those belonging to the Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala are upset as social groups are mounting protests for trying to protect priests like Father Karthikapally from the clutches of civil law.

But Catholic activists who have launched a movement against the church claim that cases of priests caught in sex crimes are increasing in the state. "It seems priests in Kerala are losing their faith and virginity. We know the names of many priests who deliberately fail to keep their sacred pledge of a celibate lifestyle," says Sebastian Vattamattam, secretary of Kottayam-based Vikas Institute that has raked up the sex scandal involving Father Cyriac Karthikapally.

"Priests are sinning against their church and the community. But their crimes have thrown up legal, ethical and moral issues for debate within the church and the catholic community," he said.

Vattamattom, a college professor in the Changanacherry archdiocese-run Saint Berchman's College, is one of the many active Catholics who have launched a movement against what they call "erring and immoral priests and nuns."

Critics like him cite many reasons why priests and nuns are stepping out of their pastoral and missionary duties to the forbidden paths. "All the modern priests are very educated and rich. They are exposed to the world and lured by the luxuries of the modern world. They are spiritually corrupt and indulge in all sorts of immoral activities," accuses Vattamattam.

Kurian Verghese, a Catholic activist in Kochi, who himself left priestly studies mid-way and became an engineer later, says the fault lies with the seminaries. "Seminaries where students are trained and moulded to become priests are old-fashioned. They are taught philosophy and theology of the old order without any freedom of thought or action," he points out.

"I left the seminary after five years because I felt suffocated. So I think once they are out of seminaries, the present generation of young priests are attracted by the outside world which they have never seen or experienced," Verghese says.

"I know many priests who drink and womanise regularly. But they still remain within the dioceses and pastoral ministry and serve the local people. Our social set-up is such that a priest giving up the cassock for marriage is a butt of ridicule," he said.

Therefore, he says, the best thing that the church should aim for is to encourage those "immoral priests" to get out of the church services and help them get married.

But Church officials point out that some of the sex scandals rocking the Catholic community in Kerala are "stray instances" and have been blown out of proportion by "some misguided catholic activists."

According to Bishop Thomas Chakiath of Ernakulam archdiocese, it is sad that "some vested interests have launched a smear campaign against the church basing their arguments on some stray incidents."

"Of course, there have been incidents in which priests were accused of disobeying the sacred order of celibacy. But it is improper to accuse that the church is plagued by sex scandals," he said.

Bishop Chakiath said often priests who indulge in immoral activities leave their pastoral job and embrace matrimony. "But these all are very rare instances and they do not mean that the church has lost its mission, unity and integrity," he asserted.

However, according to Professor M J George, a member of the action council that is now pursuing the Father Karthikapally case the gravest mistake within the church is that "it itself is the protector of criminal clergy."

George said when the Father Karthikapally sex scandal rocked the Changanacherry archdiocese, what the Archbishop did was to get him tried in the diocese's own tribunal, which "punished" him by removing him from the pastoral ministry and offering remuneration to the girl.

"The accused priest is still with the diocese. His residence is provided by the diocese and he is protected by the church while his daughter is growing up in an orphanage," George said.

Catholic activists claim in many dioceses across Kerala, many "clerical gangsters" have come up. "Our information is that Father Karthikapally used to take the minor girl to his priest friends in other parishes. They had actually formed a sex racket involving many girls," says Vattamattam.

But Changanacherry Archdiocese Chancellor Father Gregory Naduviledam refutes the charges levelled by the church pressure groups. "They are misguided activists who are acting with some vested interests against the church," he said.

As for Father Karthikapally sex case, he said, the diocesan tribunal decided to try the priest after the victim's parents approached Archbishop Joseph Powathil for a settlement on the case from the church side.

"In the tribunal the priest confessed to his crime. We found him guilty and punished him by relieving him of all pastoral duties. He is now living in a remote village without serving any parish or other diocesan institutes," Father Naduviledam said.

As to the accusation that the diocese did not take the case to the police, he said "it was not the duty of the church." "It was the duty of the offended party to approach the police. But the girl's parents instead wanted that the priest should be tried by the church tribunal only," Father Naduviledam added.

According to Father Paul Thelakkat, editor of Sathyadeepam, a popular Catholic weekly, "It is an unfair argument that the church has lost its image because one among thousands of its priests is involved in a sex scandal."

"In every religious society and community in the world, there are erring members. The Catholic church considers the rare instances of sex scandals in Kerala as insignificant," he asserted.

One of the first sex scandals that rocked the Kerala church was in the 1970s, that too in the Changanacherry diocese. A diocesan priest, Father Benedict entered into a sexual relationship with Mariakutty, a regular church-goer. But when their relationship began doing the rounds, Father Benedict allegedly killed Mariakutty.

Father Benedict was arrested and fought the case in many courts for years, but was later set free for want of sufficient evidence of murder.

Old timers recall when Father Benedict was acquitted and released, he was given a warm reception by the Changanacherry archdiocese.

"I think this is the fault with the church. It does not punish those priests who break their celibacy and seek immoral means of life. But the church is always eager to protect the clergy who are found guilty," says Joseph Punnen, a devout catholic who had launched a movement against Father Benedict in 1970s.


http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/dec/01iype.htm

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High court orders to deport Christian missionary

Sunday July 17 2005
HOSUR: Based on a direction from the Madras High Court, Hosur police have initiated action to deport a Christian priest from India, who had been illegally living in the country.

South Asian regional headquarters of the Christian missionary - Seventh Day Adventists - is located at Hosur. David Ron Watts, a Canadian national, is heading the South Asian division of Seventh Day Adventists.
Ron and his wife Dorothy Watts have been living in India on the American business visa. According to the Indian Emigration Act, an American business visa holder can stay in the country for 180 days without any registration.
It is alleged that Ron and his wife were involved in converting people into Christianity in several parts of South India. Based on complaints against them from various quarters, the Ministry of Home affairs issued a deportation order on the couple and sent it to the TN Government in 2003.
But the priest did not act upon the Home Ministry order and continued to live in India, particularly in Hosur.
In the meantime, a petition demanding eviction of Ron from India was filed in the Madras High Court recently.
Subsequently, the Madras High Court ordered Krishnagiri district police to evict Ron from the country. But it is said that the priest and his wife had disappeared from Hosur.

http://christianpersecutionindia.blogspot.com/2005_07_01_archive.html

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Priest revealed sex assault was non-consensual

The priest at the centre of the sexual abuse case that has engulfed Sydney's Archbishop Cardinal George Pell has apologised to his victim.

The apology is contained in secret police recordings obtained by ABC's Lateline program.

Father Terence Goodall was recorded by police in 2003 talking to his victim, school teacher Anthony Jones.


Father Goodall admits that the abuse was not consensual.

In one part of the conversation he says his action was "very very wrong" and he concedes that he was taking advantage of another man.

During the recording, Father Goodall apologises to Mr Jones for forcing himself on him.

Father Goodall is also quoted as saying: "I certainly didn't use the word consensual".

The transcript was available to the Church's lawyers more than three years ago, but Cardinal Pell says he was unaware of the transcripts.

"Those statements of Goodall of course put my decision on this particular matter in quite a different light," he said.

Cardinal Pell earlier revealed on the 7.30 Report that he gave an audience to Father Goodall, but did not afford the same opportunity to Mr Jones.

Mr Jones told Lateline he is offended by Cardinal Pell's earlier assertions that the assault was consensual.

"I felt isolated all over again," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/09/2299355.htm?section=justin

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Catholic priest found guilty of child sex offences

Victims of a Catholic priest say they are elated that he has been convicted of child sex offences after 30 years.


Seven former students of a boy's school in Engadine in Sydney's south accused Father Paul Evans of rape and sexual assault.

He pleaded not guilty, telling the court he hugged and comforted the boys but did not touch them in a sexual way.

Today, a jury found him guilty of 18 offences.

The abuse took place between 1977 and 1988 when Evans was a boarding school master.

Outside the court, one of his victims said when he told the police about the abuse as a teenager he had been laughed at.

He said he was relieved to be recognised by the legal system after so many years.

Evans is due to be sentenced in September.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/25/2315068.htm

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New evidence in church abuse case

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 08/07/2008

Reporter: Connor Duffy

Last night Lateline aired evidence that Catholic Archbishop Cardinal George Pell misrepresented the truth when he responded to a man who complained he'd been abused by a priest. Tonight we reveal new evidence that church investigators - and through them, the Archbishop - were later told by the same priest that he had assaulted another victim: a 16-year-old girl. We also raise a series of new questions, including why George Pell gave weight to the abusive priest's word that his attack on Anthony Jones was, in fact, consensual.



Transcript
TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Last night Lateline revealed the case of Anthony Jones, a former religious education teacher and his evidence that Cardinal George Pell misrepresented the truth when he responded to Mr Jones' complaint of sexual assault by a priest.

Today cardinal George Pell admitted he'd made a mistake when he wrote a letter to Mr Jones falsely telling him his was the only complaint against the priest and that the church investigation said his complaint of sex assault shouldn't be upheld.

Tonight we reveal new documents from the case that show that the church investigators and, through them, the Archbishop were later told by the same priest that he'd assaulted another victim: a 16 year old girl. She has never been identified.

We also raise a series of new questions, including why George Pell gave weight to the abusive priest's word, that his attack on Anthony Jones was in fact consensual.

Conor Duffy and Tim Palmer produced this report.

CONOR DUFFY, REPORTER: Last night Anthony Jones told Lateline how he was sexually assaulted by a Sydney priest, Father Terence Goodall.

Letters and a report published by Lateline show that Archbishop George Pell subsequently misrepresented the findings of the church's own investigation into that attack.

Anthony Jones says Cardinal Pell's actions destroyed the faith that had been the bedrock of his life.

ANTHONY JONES, ABUSE VICTIM: It affected me the same way as Father Goodall sexually assaulting me. Cardinal Pell assaulted me by his words all over again.

CONOR DUFFY: Today Cardinal Pell was forced to put aside last minute preparations for World Youth Day to respond to the serious questions over his handling of the case.

Among them, why he wrote to Anthony Jones saying:

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL (Voiceover): No other complaint of attempted sexual assault has been received against Father Goodall.

CONOR DUFFY: When he knew there had been, and in fact had written to another of Father Goodall's victims accepting his allegation on the same day he wrote to Mr Jones.

All just a poor choice of words according to Cardinal Pell.

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL: The letter to Mr Jones was badly worded and a mistake.

CONOR DUFFY: Cardinal says his description of the type of crime in the letter caused the confusion. When the Anthony Jones matter was investigated, church investigator Howard Murray recommended to Cardinal Pell that the allegations raised by Anthony Jones be sustained.

However when Cardinal Pell wrote to Jones he claimed:

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL (Voiceover): Mr Murray was of the opinion that the complaint of attempted aggravated sexual assault cannot be considered to have been substantiated.

CONOR DUFFY: Today Cardinal Pell said that too was an innocent mistake, not a fabrication.

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL: No that is an overstatement I acknowledge that.

REPORTER: Is it an overstatement or is it just not true and made up?

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL: No because I accepted the basic conclusions of Murray, that the charges were substantiated.

REPORTER: Why did you say then Mr Murray was of the opinion that the complaint of aggravated sexual assault cannot be considered to be substantiated when Murray said nothing of the sort.

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL: Because I'd come to that conclusion after advice and considering the matter and also confirming that all along Goodall insisted that it was consensual, and he confirmed that to me.

REPORTER: But why did you contribute that to Mr Murray...

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL: That was an overstatement. That was an innocent error.

CONOR DUFFY: Today Cardinal Pell acknowledged that Howard Murray sustained all of Anthony Jones' allegations.

Lateline has obtained another letter sent by George Pell to Anthony Jones in May 2003.

In that letter Cardinal Pell once again contradicts the findings of the Murray investigation. He wrote:

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL (Voiceover): What cannot be determined by me, however, is whether it was a matter of sexual assault as you state, or homosexual behaviour between two consenting adults as maintained by Father Goodall. In the end it is a matter of your word against his.

CONOR DUFFY: But the report to George Pell had only given the issue of consent passing mention.

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL (Voiceover): He [Father Goodall] agreed generally with Tony's account of the post-swim events at the presbytery although he maintained the move to the bed whilst both men were naked was more consensual than forced upon Tony.

CONOR DUFFY: Ultimately Father Goodall would admit to the non-consensual nature of the pool incident and plead guilty in the district court to indecent assault.

Cardinal Pell's acceptance of Father Goodall's excuse that the incident was consensual infuriated the victim.

ANTHONY JONES: By saying that it was consensual and that there were no other complaints is an absolute disgrace. And I believe that Cardinal Pell should not be Cardinal Pell.

CONOR DUFFY: That Cardinal Pell erred in giving equal weight to the word of Father Goodall and that of his victim, was made clear subsequently when the church investigator sent the Archbishop a report that was scathing about Father Goodall's character.

It found Father Goodall was a serial offender and an ongoing risk.

HOWARD MURRAY, CHURCH INVESTIGATOR (Voiceover): I was struck by the recurring themes of defensiveness, lack of victim empathy and lack of reasonable insight.

CONOR DUFFY: The report also sketches a career long history of problems involving Goodall. And critically finds he committed another offence against another child. In this case a 16 year old girl.

HOWARD MURRAY (Voiceover): I am aware that he has offended against a 10/11 year old male, a 16 year old female, and that he has made admissions to fondling a young adult male without his consent.

Also he has admitted to the following incidents: namely, propositioning two male seminary students when he was attached to the manly theological faculty, inviting a group of alter boys to strip naked whilst swimming, inviting an adult male to stay over at his parish presbytery, and of having a consensual sexual experience with an adult male.

PAUL COLLINS, AUTHOR AND FORMER PRIEST: To me there's a kind of lurking question here, the abuse of the altar boy for instance that he mentions in his letter.

I mean did he report that to the police? This is kind of, this is the essence of the story it seems to me.

PROFESSOR MARK FINDLAY, SYDNEY UNIVERSITY: Well I think it reveals that this church, like other churches, start off from a position which is how can we minimise fire damage.

And perhaps as other churches have found, and the Catholic Church has found, the real consideration is how do we restore public confidence and how do we put forward a positive approach to considerations that relate to sexual abuse

CONOR DUFFY: Late tonight the church told Lateline that it had informed police about the assault on the 11 year old altar boy.

And the church said it only became aware of the offence against the 16 year old girl when father Goodall admitted to it in June 2003.

The church says the priest did not disclose the name of the girl, she's never been identified.

So far George Pell says he hasn't informed the Vatican of the controversy. Paul Collins says he won't have to.

PAUL COLLINS: I'm sure they would be aware of what's happening and I'm sure they would be looking at it carefully.

CONOR DUFFY: Cardinal Pell today apologised to Anthony Jones and suggested that should be the end of the matter.

REPORTER: Not a very good opener for the World Youth Day is it?

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL: Please God we'll be over this before the World Youth Day.

CONOR DUFFY: That's just seven days away

Conor Duffy, Lateline.

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2008/s2298207.htm

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The Pope's apology

The Pope's apology
he Pope's apology to sexual abuse victims will galvanise the Catholic Church in Australia to improve the way it deals with such evil, a bishop says.

The Pope apologised on Saturday for the sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy in Australia, saying he was ''deeply sorry'' for the pain and suffering victims had endured.

''These misdeeds, which constitute so grave a betrayal of trust, deserve unequivocal condemnation,'' the pontiff told a congregation of 3400 people, including Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell, bishops, seminarians, and religious and school groups.

''Those responsible for these evils must be brought to justice. It is an urgent priority to promote a safer and more wholesome environment, especially for young people.''

World Youth Day coordinator Bishop Anthony Fisher said yesterday he joined with the general community in welcoming the pontiff's ''heartfelt'' words.

''That call to bring justice against the perpetrators and to bring healing, reconciliation and justice to the victims and to ensure prevention of this sort of thing in the future, to the extent that anyone can, that call to us is a challenge to the Church,'' he said.

''We're certainly committed to the process. This added impetus the Holy Father gives us means we will certainly as a Church in Australia be looking to how we can do this better in the future.''

Bishop Fisher said he did not know if the Pope would have time in a packed schedule to meet victims before he was due to leave this morning. ''Even if he did meet a few victims like he did in the United States, there's still hundreds more out there,'' he said. ''I think what he said is for all of them and I very much hope people will hear that message with open ears.

''The Holy Father wants every victim to know that Christ's loving compassionate heart is there for them and the Church is there for them, deeply ashamed of where it's hurt them and wanting them back.'' Bishop Fisher also apologised for comments he made when he faced questions about the Catholic Church's handling of Melbourne sisters repeatedly raped by a priest.

He came under fire for saying some people were ''dwelling crankily'' on old wounds, but said yesterday his remarks were misconstrued. ''I was commenting then on a few people in the media who I thought, and the word I used, I think, was 'cranky', in their reporting on the issue of sexual abuse and World Youth Day,'' he said.

''I certainly wasn't intending in any way to make remarks about the victims themselves. Sexual abuse has absolutely no place in the life of the Church. If anything I've said or anyone else has said has exacerbated that situation or hurt them in any way all I can offer again is my deepest apology.''

Bishop Fisher said the Church recognised many people suffered for years after child abuse.

''It's not my place or anyone else's to tell them to stop grieving or to stop hurting: our job is to help them heal and that's what I want to do and that's what the Church wants to do.'' AAP
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/sex-abuse-apology-to-galvanise-church/1060875.aspx

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Christian sect leader indicted for sex abuse charges

Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs and four of his followers have been indicted by a Texas grand jury on charges of sexual assault of a child after state officials raided a polygamist ranch near Eldorado in April.

Attorney General Greg Abbott said the five men have been formally accused of one count of sexually assaulting girls under 17. One of them also faces an additional charge of bigamy.

Abbott said a sixth member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is charged with three counts of failure to report child abuse.

Jeffs, 52, the controversial spiritual leader and self-proclaimed prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has already been sentenced in a Utah court to 10 years to life in prison as an accomplice to rape for forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her 19-year-old first cousin. He is in jail in Arizona awaiting trial on similar charges for arranged marriages there.

According to the indictment he is now accused of assaulting a girl in Texas in January 2005.

"Our investigation in this matter is not concluded," said Abbott, whose office is acting as the special prosecutor in the case.

The identities of Jeffs' followers who were also indicted were not released.

"There will be an aggressive effort to apprehend them," Abbott said when asked whether he was concerned the men might have fled Texas.

Willie Jessop, a church member and spokesman, said members would face the accusations.

"We're actually quite shocked. As soon as we know who they're looking for, we'll try to face it," he said. "We believe in our innocence."

More than 400 child members of the polygamist sect were taken into custody by state officials in April, but were later returned to their families after a Texas judge in June lifted the custody order.

Under Texas law, a girl younger than 17 cannot generally consent to sex with an adult. Bigamy is also illegal in Texas, and although plural marriages were not licensed by the state, the law contains a provision outlawing the act of "purporting to marry" more than one person.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/23/usa.internationalcrime

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