Kerala nun rape case: Bishop Franco Mulakkal acquitted, says ‘Praise the Lord’
In her complaint, the nun had said that on May 5, 2014 the bishop visited Kuravilangad convent and called her to his room at night and forced her to have unnatural sex with him. The nun had alleged that the bishop raped her 13 times between 2014 and 2016.
FollowThe additional district and sessions court in Kottayam acquitted Bishop Franco Mulakkal in the alleged nun rape case on Friday. Rape charges were levelled against the bishop alleging he raped a nun at her convent several times between 2014 and 2016.
The police intensified the security within and outside the court premises as an uneasy calm prevails across a majority of the churches. Ahead of the verdict, over 100 police officers and bomb squads have been deployed outside Kottayam sessions court. Several priests from the bishop's house and churches of Jalandhar district and nearby areas arrived in Kerala to be with the Bishop when the judgment was delivered in court.
In her complaint, the nun had said that on May 5, 2014 the bishop visited Kuravilangad convent and called her to his room at night and forced her to have unnatural sex with him. The nun had alleged that the bishop raped her 13 times between 2014 and 2016.
Following the complaint, many nuns, activists and political leaders came forward demanding the arrest of Mulakkal. He was arrested in 2018. Franco Mulakkal was the first Indian Catholic bishop to be arrested in a case of sexual abuse against a nun in Kerala.
Though the victim filed a complaint on June 29, 2018, it took three months for the police to arrest Mulakkal on Sept 19, 2018. The case attracted national attention after five fellow nuns had staged a 2-week sit-in protest in Kochi seeking action against the bishop.
The Special Investigation team which probed the case, arrested Franco and charged him under various sections of Indian Penal Code, including 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 377 (Unnatural Sex), 376 (c)(a) sexual intercourse by person in authority, 376(2)(k) (indulging in sexual intercourse by exhorting authority), and 506 (criminal intimidation).
Mullakkal denied the rape charges saying he was framed after he took action against the nun for financial irregularities in the convent. The victim is a member of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation based in Punjab, which also runs three convents in Kerala.
