Bihop of Jalandhar Diocese Franco Mulakkal was acquitted on the charges of raping a 44-year-old nun, by a Kerala court today. It was alleged that Mulakkal raped the Missionaries of Jesus convent nun in Kuruvilangad, Kottayam between 2014 and 2016.
“Daivathinu sthuthi (Praise the Lord!)” Mulakkal told reporters, before leaving the court premises. He broke down in court and embraced his lawyers when the verdict was announced.Mulakkal had been arrested in September, 2018 in connection with the complaint of a nun, who had alleged that Mulakkal had raped her 13 times at her Congregation’s mission house in Kottayam district, over a period of two years from May 5, 2014.
He had been the first Indian Catholic bishop to be arrested in a rape case and was lodged in judicial custody for 25 days after his arrest in September, 2018.The judge G Gopakumar pronounced the judgment with one line “the accused has been acquitted”. The courtroom witnessed dramatic scenes as Bishop Mulakkal’s brothers Philip, Chacko and supporters ran towards the bishop and hugged him while he was coming out of the dock after hearing the judgment.
“Daivathinu sthuthi (Praise the Lord!)” Mulakkal told reporters, before leaving the court premises. He broke down in court and embraced his lawyers when the verdict was announced. Mulakkal had been arrested in September, 2018 in connection with the complaint of a nun, who had alleged that Mulakkal had raped her 13 times at her Congregation’s mission house in Kottayam district, over a period of two years from May 5, 2014.
He had been the first Indian Catholic bishop to be arrested in a rape case and was lodged in judicial custody for 25 days after his arrest in September, 2018.However, the judgment came out as a shocker to the prosecution and the investigation team as well as the complainant. Responding to the media, special public prosecutor Jithesh J Babu said an appeal would be filed in the higher court.
Investigating officer S Harisankar, former Kottayam SP told reporters that this is an extremely unfortunate verdict and shocking one for them. He said that they are expecting conviction fully and added that they will appeal. “We had a lot of corroborative evidence. All the witnesses in the case were ordinary people,” he added.
He added that verdict which is an aberration of various orders of the higher courts including the Supreme Court with regard to rape cases. “Definitely, the verdict would stand out in the Indian Judicial system. We will verify the interpretations of the court in arriving at the judgment and file an appeal,” he said.
Meanwhile, during investigation of this case, another nun also made similar accusations against Mulakkal. In February 2020, a 35-year-old nun alleged that her chats with the then Bishop in 2015 had gradually turned sexual in nature, leaving her ‘disgusted, averse and causing mental agony’.
In a statement to the police, she had said, “The Bishop continued with sexual remarks.. and started making video calls with description about his and my body parts… Because he was the Bishop of the diocese, I could not tell anything against it. Even though I was not interested in sex chatting, due to fear of the Bishop’s displeasure and being ousted from the church, I did not object.
“She further alleged that in 2017 when she was sent to Kerala as a punishment, Bishop Franco Mulakkal came to the convent late at night, made her sit in a chair in his room. She added that the two spoke for nearly two hours. “As I was leaving the room, Bishop hugged me and kissed me on the forehead. I felt disgusted. And next the Bishop left,” she said.
