New Delhi: After being in the news recently because of an attack on him allegedly by workers of the BJP Yuva Morcha, social activist Swami Agnivesh, while welcoming the National Commission for Women recommendation for the abolition of the practice of confession in Christian churches in the country “in the interest of protecting women from exploitation by the immoral and predatory clergy of the Church”, reprimanded the NCW for its lack of consistency in protecting women.NCW’s recommendation has rankled the church in Kerala and other parts in the country, who have slammed the Commission’s statement as “generalised and sweeping” and “an attack on the Christian faith“.The recommendation, based on an investigation conducted by the NCW into two sex scandals, one involving four priests of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the second the Roman Catholic Bishop of Jalandhar Diocese, was made in a report which was submitted to Union home minister Rajnath Singh.According to reports, the NCW move was prompted by the revelation by the Orthodox sex scandal victim that three of the four priests involved in the case had blackmailed and sexually abused her by using her confessional secret regarding a pre-marital relationship she had with the fourth priest.“We have recommended that confession should abolished from the church. It is being misused by the priests. Many women are suffering. Women cannot share their private life with priests,” NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma told The Indian Express.“I endorse, further, the stand of the commission that crimes committed by the clergy must be investigated urgently and in a credible and transparent fashion,” Agnivesh said in a statement. “Given the political clout of the church in Kerala, it is imperative that this task be entrusted to the CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation].”Agnivesh urged the commission to educate women about dangers that could be present in “man-dominated religious establishments”.“It is disappointing that even basic things like running helplines for women in distress with mechanisms for speedy response are not in place,” he added.The full text has been reproduced below:§I welcome the stand of the National Commission for Women (NCW) that, in the interest of protecting women from exploitation by the immoral and predatory clergy of the Church, the Christian practise of confession may be abolished by law. I do so because I believe that no price is too heavy to pay when it comes to defending the honour and sanctity of our women. It is absurd that a practice meant to absolve people of their sins is used to push them deeper and deeper into degradation.I endorse, further, the stand of the Commission that crimes committed by the clergy must be investigated urgently and in a credible and transparent fashion. Given the political clout of the church in Kerala, it is imperative that this task be entrusted to the CBI.I am, at the same time, intrigued that the NCW has chosen to look the other way when far greater sexual offences took place in the dens of godmen like Ramphal, Asaram Bapu and Gurmeet Singh. In the latter case, some four hundred women were reportedly kept in near-slavery conditions and sexually exploited at will for years. To be consistent, the Commission needs to take a similar stand on the need to adopt measures sufficient to ensure that women are not sexually exploited in the name of any religion by any priest or godman. If this is not done, the intention of the NCW would come vitiated with bias, prejudice and politically nuanced opportunism.I would also urge the Commission to initiate nationwide programmes to educate and alert the women of this country about the dangers that lie in wait for them in the backyards of man-dominated religious establishments. Sexual perversions have been part of the religious menagerie from time immemorial. The Commission has a duty to address this issue. It is disappointing that even basic things like running helplines for women in distress with mechanisms for speedy response are not in place.It is not merely because women are apt to be exploited that the practice of confessing to clergymen needs to be abolished. The pretensions underlying this practice of manly pride cannot stand rational scrutiny. That priests, clothed with the authority of the church, can forgive anyone’s sins is hollow and heretical. No man can forgive anyone’s sins; for sins are committed against God. God alone can forgive sins, if at all. So, the practice of confession stands on pretentious grounds. It is only natural that it adds to the sins of the people, instead of mitigating them.