Kerala nun accuses Jalandhar bishop of rape, case registered

JALANDHAR/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Hours after a Kerala-based nun accused a Roman Catholic bishop of sexually assaulting her, the latter countered the allegations saying she was targeting him for initiating a probe against her in an alleged illicit relationship case.

The Catholic nun had alleged that her superior — Franco Mullakkal, the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar, Punjab — had sexually abused her 13 times.

But Mullakkal told the media on Saturday that trouble started in 2016 when he took up a complaint against her and took it to its logical conclusion. “When I took up the complaint against her, the harassment started from her end and it has continued unabated since then — with allegations against me,” said the bishop, who has now also filed a complaint with the police.

The Kerala police on Friday registered a case against the bishop. Kottayam superintendent of police Hari Shankar said a case was registered against Mullakkal at Kuravilangad police station. The bishop has also given a complaint against the nun, a mother superior of the convent, saying that she was blackmailing him and threatened to implicate him in a sexual harassment case. The nun in her complaint alleged that the bishop sexually abused after summoning her on the pretext of discussing an important issue in 2014. She said in next two years she was raped 13 times by the bishop.

The nun said she made a complaint to the church last year and forced to file a police complaint after it failed to take action against the accused bishop. She said after filing a complaint she was removed from the official position and framed complaints of financial irregularities against her. However the bishop said he was implicated for taking action against her.

The nun said if she won’t get justice from church authorities, she will move the Pope against the accused. Bishop Mullakkal, hailing from Kottayam, was appointed as the Auxiliary bishop of Delhi diocese in 2009 and made the bishop of Jalandhar in 2013.

The case surfaced at a time when a believer of the Orthodox Church filed a complaint against five priests alleging they sexually exploited his wife for many years on the basis of a confession she made to one of them. The police had registered a case after the intervention of the National Women Commission.

Talking to HT, Mullakkal said: “The nun remained posted as mother general missionaries of Jesus congregation in Jalandhar for nine years till 2013 before I came to Jalandhar. Later, she lost elections and a new nun was appointed in her place. She later moved to Kerala.”

“In 2016, a Kerala woman came to Jalandhar and filed a written complaint before present mother general missionaries of Jesus congregation that a nun was having illicit relationship with her husband,” Bishop Mullakkal said.

He said that on this basis the complaint, an inquiry had been marked but the nun never cooperated with the staff. Last week, a written explanation was sought from her. “Annoyed over this, she earlier issued a threat to my life last week and now she levelled baseless allegations. I have also filed a complaint against the relatives of the nun for threatening to kill me,” the bishop said.

The nun on Saturday told local reporters in Kerala that she would go ahead with legal action against the bishop.

Jalandhar commissioner of police Praveen Kumar Sinha an inquiry has been launched after bishop Franco received a threat from a Kerala based nun a few days back. “We will summon the family members of a nun to join the investigations,” he said.

BISHOP SAYS THE NUN WAS BLACKMAILING HIM AND HAD EARLIER THREATENED TO IMPLICATE HIM IN A SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASE