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Indian-origin bishop in UK denies sexual assault allegations
The kerala-native served as Vicar of St James' Church, Calcutta before moving to the UK in 2001.
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Bishop of Liverpool, John Perumbalath at his installation in Chelmsford Cathedral in 2018 / Wikipedia
A senior Indian-origin bishop in the UK on Jan. 29 denied wrongdoing after a broadcaster aired allegations of sexual assault and harassment against him.
The allegations come after Justin Welby this month stepped down as Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the world's Anglicans over his handling of a historical sexual abuse case.
The accused Bishop of Liverpool, John Perumbalath, said he had "consistently denied" the new allegations and cooperated with church investigations.
One woman accused the bishop of kissing her without consent and groping her and another woman accused him of sexual harassment, according to Channel 4 News.
In a statement, Perumbalath said the allegations "set out in this (Channel 4) programme are in relation to encounters that took place in public settings, with other people present".
"I have consistently denied the allegations made against me by both complainants. I have complied with any investigation from the (church's) National Safeguarding Team," he said, adding the claims were also "investigated by the police who took no further action".
"Whilst I don't believe I have done anything wrong, I have taken seriously the lessons learnt through this process addressing how my actions can be perceived by others," he said.
A replacement for Welby, who announced his resignation in November, is not expected to be named until later this year, according to reports.
His temporary replacement, the outgoing Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, second most senior cleric in the mother church of Anglicanism, has also faced calls to resign.
Critics say that he mishandled a sexual abuse case when he was the Bishop of Chelmsford, in southeastern England.
Welby quit after an independent probe found that he "could and should" have formally reported decades of abuse by Church-linked lawyer John Smyth to authorities in 2013.
Smyth, who organised evangelical summer camps in the 1970s and 1980s, was responsible for "prolific, brutal and horrific" abuse of up to 130 boys and young men, according to the independent Makin Review.
It concluded the Church of England covered up the "traumatic physical, sexual, psychological and spiritual attacks", which occurred in Britain, Zimbabwe and South Africa over several decades.
© Agence France-Presse
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