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Rape-accused Catholic Bishop Franco Mulakkal acquitted by a Kerala Court

The Commune

A Kerala court on Friday (January 14), has acquitted Bishop Franco Mulakkal of the Jalandhar Diocese Catholic Church in the nun rape case.

Judge G Gopakumar, Additional Sessions Court, Kottayam, presided who had presided over the case delivered the verdict in the presence of Bishop who was accused of raping a 44-year-old nun at her convent several times.

Rekha Sharma, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Women has said that she is shocked to learn of the judgment pronounced by the Kerala Court and that the victim nun must appeal to the High Court. “The Victim Nun must go to the high court. National Commission for Women is with her in this fight for justice”, she tweeted.

According to the liveLaw, the Kuravilangad Police in 2018 had registered a case on the basis of a complaint filed by a nun against Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar Diocese, and in that complaint, the nun had accused the Catholic Bishop of raping her several times at Missionaries of Jesus convent between 2014 and 2016.

Following the complaint, several nuns from the convent also joined the victim and had protested against the Bishop and requested the Vatican’s ambassador in Delhi, Giambattista Diquattro, and the Pope to dismiss the Bishop from his position and started a campaign called ‘Save Our Sisters’ and called for Franco’s arrest.

In September 2018, Mulakkal was arrested for interrogation and was remanded to judicial custody. However, the nuns had alledged that several such complaints against the Bishop were overlooked by the authorities.

Sister Lucy Kalapura, one of the nuns who had protested against the powerful Bishop was permanently thrown out from the Church.

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