JALANDHAR BISHOP HANDS OVER CHARGE

Bishop Franco Mulakkal on Saturday named a senior priest to administer the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar, a day after he received summons from the Kerala police to join an investigation into a nun’s allegations that he raped her multiple times between 2014 and 2016.

KOCHI: The dharna by the Missionaries of Jesus nuns in Kochi demanding the arrest of bishop Franco Mulakkal for allegedly raping a colleague in a Kottayam convent entered the eighth day on Saturday. From a small protest by five nuns, it has virtually grown into a movement over the past week. Sister Anupama, one of the nuns heading the protest, spoke to Ramesh

Babu on the controversy. Excerpts:

The bishop has handed charge to his deputy to join the probe. Will you continue your stir?

We will continue till the bishop is arrested. Come what may, we will take it to its logical conclusion. It is a temporary arrangement that the bishop has given his charge to his deputy. It is eyewash; we need justice. We turned to everyone, including the Church higher-ups and the police, for help but they ignored our repeated pleas for two years.

Is it a spontaneous stir or a well thoughtout one?

When all options were closed, we were forced to take to the streets. It was a spontaneous move. Initially, we were scared, but when we got public support, we got some strength. We are getting good support from all quarters. Despite the church gag against showing any sympathy for us, our support is swelling.

But the church says external forces are supporting your movement...

No external forces are behind us other than our family members. We don’t know who all are coming and sitting here. We were lured with tall promises, intimidated and wrong cases were foisted on us... There were attempts on our lives, we are not bothered.

Police say there are many contradictions in the nun’s (survivor’s) statement as well?

More than the church, what really shocked us was the indifferent attitude of the police... Despite a big outcry, I don’t know why they dread touching the bishop... The survivor was questioned seven times but the accused only once. It seems the petitioner is being hounded.

Who is protecting the bishop?

You can see that despite knocking on many doors, including the Pope’s, there is no response. Now they are in a race to shame the survivor and the witnesses. Our struggle is only for justice.