The Supreme Court of India on March 17 dismissed Cardinal George Alencherry’s appeal seeking to quash seven criminal cases against him in connection to the controversial sale of church land in the southern state of Kerala.
A division bench of the apex court dismissed the cardinal’s Special Leave Petition against the judgment delivered by the Kerala High Court in August 2021 that refused to quash the criminal proceedings against the prelate over alleged irregularities in the sale of properties belonging to the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese.
The court also refused to quash criminal cases against the cardinal, who is the head of the Kerala-based Syro-Malabar Church.
“We will explore legal remedies after thoroughly studying the court order,” a Church official told Matters India.
He said the dismissal of the cardinal’s plea is “not the final order” and asserted that the prelate’s legal team would decide the future course of action.
Meanwhile, the cardinal’s opponents say the apex court decision has come as a major setback to the prelate who is now left with no option but face trial in the criminal cases.
The case started in 2017 when a group of priests in the archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly publically accused Cardinal Alencherry, the then their archbishop, of selling several plots belonging to the archdiocese without the consent of the archdiocesan committees and incurring a loss to the tune of 1 billion rupees.
Although the cardinal denied the allegations, a section of priests and Catholics opposed to him demanded his resignation from the office of archbishop. Subsequently, the Vatican removed him from the administrative control over the archdiocese and appointed an apostolic administrator.
Meanwhile, several cases were registered against him for his role in the land deals.
Read the full story in Matters India