Nun case: Jalandhar bishop offers to step down
Bishop received official summons to appear before Kerala Police for questioning on Wednesday
JALANDHAR : Boshop Franco Mulakkal, accused of rape by a nun, has written to the Pope offering to “step aside temporarily” as bishop of the Jalandhar diocese, a move which comes ahead of his appearance before the Kerala Police on Wednesday to join the investigation in the case. A spokesman of the diocese said that the Bishop wrote to the Pope on Sunday.
JALANDHAR: Franco Mulakkal, the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar, who is accused of raping a nun, wrote a letter to Pope Francis on Sunday expressing his desire to step aside temporarily.
“I request you to relieve me from the administration of the Diocese in the background of the court’s opinion,” Bishop Mulakkal stated in his letter. He is to appear before the Kerala police for questioning on Wednesday.
In June, a 43-year-old nun, also a mother superior, had complained to the police that Mullakkal had raped her 13 times between 2014 and 2016.
The nun is a member of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation based in Punjab which runs two convents in Kerala.
The Missionaries of Jesus nuns have been protesting for the past several days in Kochi demanding the arrest of the bishop. From a small protest by five nuns, it has virtually grown into a movement over the past week with nuns and priests from various churches joining in.
Father Peter, the bishop’s official spokesperson said the evidence against him was inadequate .
“The bishop decided on his own to make his request to Holy Father, so that the truth may be established. He (bishop) is confident that his request will be accepted by Vatican,” he said.
He added that the bishop will leave for Kerala on Tuesday, to join the investigation.
On whether the Pope had accepted his offer of temporarily stepping down, he said they had not received a revert so far.
The development came a day after the bishop had appointed vicar general Mathew Kokkandam to administer the Diocese as is the normal practice.
On Friday, he had received official summons served by the Jalandhar police on the behalf of Vaikom (Kerala) DSP K Subhash, who is heading the investigation.
Jalandhar commissioner of police (CP) Praveen Sinha received the summons from the Kerala police that asked the bishop to appear before them for investigation on September 19.