 |
| Bishop Franco Mulakkal |
Bishop Franco Mulakkal, bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Jalandhar since 2013, has been charged with raping a nun nine times. This is the first time a Catholic bishop has been charged with such a crime in Indian history.
The attacks are alleged to have taken place in the southern Indian state of Karela over a two year period between 2014 and 2016. Mulakkal faces life in prison if convicted. The charge sheet includes statements from more than 80 witnesses including a cardinal, three bishops, 11 priests and 25 nuns.
He also faces charges of intimidation, illegal confinement and unnatural intercourse, charges which carry a ten year sentence.
The charge comes after four nuns met with the Kottayam Superintendent of Police last month to complain about the delay in bringing charges and claimed they were living in extreme fear. Mulakkal was originally arrested after a public campaign by Save Our Sisters, last September but was bailed. Sources allege that the charge sheet has been ready for filing since last December.
In June 2018, a member of the Missionaries of Jesus religious congregation accused Mulakkal of raping her 13 times in a 72 page complaint to Kerala police. Mulakkal was not arrested until 21 September following allegations by a lay group in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, calling themselves the Movement for Transparency, that Cardinal George Alencherry, who heads the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, had been informed of the allegations by the nun but failed to report it to the police.
On October 22, 2018, Fr. Kuriakose Kattuthara, a key police witness in the case, was found dead in his room in unexplained circumstances.
According to a New York Times report earlier this year, Kerala police are investigating allegations that senior Catholic clerics had abused other nuns and that four priests had blackmailed nuns with information gained in the confessional into having sex.
This charge comes two weeks after Pope Francis admitted the church had a problem with sexual abuse of nuns.
atleast he is normal, instead of going after boys
ReplyDelete