Second POCSO case filed against priest Father Cyprian Pinto

Mangaluru: A second case stands registered against the 65-year-old Catholic priest attached to St. Vincent Ferrer Church at Valencia for the alleged sexual assault of a minor boy. The Mangaluru Women Police Station recorded the complaint identifying the priest as Father Cyprian Pinto. The complaint states that he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy on May 13. The boy, a resident of Permannur village, used to attend Sunday prayers at St. Sebastian Church, and the alleged incident took place while he remained associated with that church.

Police registered the case under Section 75(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 8 and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Further investigation has been entrusted to the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Central Sub-Division. The new complaint arrived weeks after another case was registered against the same priest at the Mangaluru South Police Station on October 15.

That earlier case rested on allegations of sexual harassment of a 14-year-old boy.

Police arrested the priest in the first matter and produced him before a court on October 18. The court remanded him to judicial custody until October 30; he was subsequently released on bail. Investigation into that case continues.

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The Hans India