Franco Mulakkal moves top court seeking discharge in rape case

nNEW DELHI: Former Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakkal moved the Supreme Court earlier this week seeking discharge in a case in which he stands accused of raping a nun two weeks after the Kerala high court quashed a similar plea. Mulakkal is accused of raping a nun, who was a member of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation, on at least 13 occasions between 2014 and 2016 when he visited Kerala.

Mulakkal, whose plea was quashed by a trial court in March, claimed that he was falsely implicated after he initiated disciplinary proceedings against the nun on account of alleged financial misdealings. The high court dismissed the plea on July 7 observing that the antecedents of victim do not make out any case to doubt the prosecution story.

“Rape is the most revolting, cruel and hated crime to a woman… Thus when the records indicate that prima facie materials are available to show that the Sister was subjected to sexual assault including rape from the hands of the superior authority who is the Bishop of the Diocese, it is not possible to infer that this Bishop was falsely implicated by the Mother Superior of the Home functioning under him, on mere enmity as contended by him,”it said. The survivor lodged a complaint in June 2018, and in September, a group of nuns held a sit-in demanding Mulakkal’s arrest. A chargesheet was filed against him in April 2019.

“Due to the disciplinary proceedings initiated by the petitioner (Mulakkal) against the sister, she has maliciously and falsely implicated him...,” Mulakkal had told the high court.