Court To Give Verdict On January 14 In Kerala Church Rape Case

Nun Rape Case Update: On January 10 the court said that the verdict against Bishop Franco Mulakkal for the rape of a nun in Kottayam would be reserved for January 14, Friday. The verdict in the case will be pronounced by the Additional Sessions Court. The incident took place in 2018 and the trial has been ongoing since November 2019.

In June 2018, the survivor had filed a police complaint that she was allegedly sexually abused by Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who was back then the Bishop of the Jalandhar diocese of Roman Catholic Church between 2014 and 2016. The Bishop was arrested and charged for wrongful confinement, rape, unnatural sex and criminal intimidation by the Special Investigative Team.

In the case, the court had also restricted the print and electronic media from publishing any matter related to the trial without the court's permission.

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In 2019, the Vaikkom Deputy Superintendent of Police K Subash Kumar who was probing the charges was transferred. This had triggered allegations on the intentions of the transfer but a senior police officer reportedly said that the transfer was not related to the case and is a routine affair. However, this had led to protests from the nuns who came in support of the survivor.

The nun had also alleged that his improper behaviour had led to at least 20 nuns leaving the congregation.

Mulakkal was accused of raping a nun multiple times between 2014 and 2016. Mulakkal holds a doctorate in moral theology and is the first Indian Catholic bishop to be arrested for a rape case. He was interrogated for three days, during which he had denied all the charges.

In 2018, the 54-year-old Bishop had stepped down from his position after the incident came under the notice of the Vatican. In a letter to the Vatican, the nun stated, "Though the Bishop had sexually abused me several times I could not reveal the full story to my superior general or to her councilors. I only told them repeatedly that the Bishop is taking many disciplinary actions through them just because I resisted to lie down with him."