A rare smile beams across Joseph’s face as he listens to the news about the observance of International Men’s Day this week. Men have a cause to uphold too, he said, reminiscing the bad days he passed through, after a cousin slapped a “rape” complaint against him.
Trouble started after P.P. Joseph, a senior executive with HDFC Bank, and his wife stood by to help one of his cousins whose husband was not keeping well.
But, one day, this cousin turned against Joseph, and filed a police complaint against him with the help of her friend, Fr Clement Vadakkedath of the Redemption Order.
Joseph says that was a time when this cousin had move out of her husband’s place and was living independently in Kochi. The priest had found her a home to live in Aluva.
When the relatives found this was not a good situation, leaving behind an ailing husband, they asked Joseph to speak to the priest, which he did, but little did he think then about the consequences. He says that on September 5, 2010, he went to the monastery but could not find the priest there.
He then decided to have a word with his cousin. When he reached her place, he found the priest there. “I gave a piece of my mind to them, and the priest, in a huff, drove away in his vehicle, along with my cousin and her two children.”