Kerala bishop booked after nun accuses him of rape

The Kerala police on Friday registered a case against a bishop of the SyroMalabar church following a complaint by a nun that she was raped by him over a period of two years. Bishop Frank Mullakkal has also filed a complaint against the nun, 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 that over the next two years, she was raped 13 times by the bishop.

senior Congress MP Jairam Ramesh paid a courtesy call on Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu last week, he had a suggestion to make: extend the duration of the Question Hour and Zero Hour.

Question Hour is the slot in which members of Parliament seek replies from the government on subjects related to ministries. Zero Hour is when members raise substantive issues in the House.

Naidu did not rule out Ramesh’s out-of-the-box idea of adding half-an-hour to each of the two slots in the Rajya Sabha, where disruption of proceedings by combative Opposition members over disputes with the Treasury benches is common. “But Naidu said categorically that the House should function properly first. Then we can think of these ideas,” said an aide close to him.

Ramesh’s timing was right. Naidu has just rejigged a panel to review the rules governing the House amid talk of a new provision for automatic suspension of unruly members.

“Naidu said starting the session from 10 am instead of the current 11 am can always be discussed. He also said that he alone can’t take a call as relevant committees are there to think about A MEMBER OF THE PANEL ON RULES

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: NEWDELHI:When This panel assumes importance amid the clamour for amending the rules of the Upper House to empower it to take faster steps to curb disruptions.

these possibilities,” Ramesh said.

The 15-member committee on rules has members representing different parties, and is expected to submit its report in the next few months. Parliamentarians such as Ramesh, Swapan Dasgupta, Naresh Gujral, Tiruchi Siva and YS Chowdhury have been appointed as the panel’s members. Outgoing deputy chairman of Rajya sabha, PJ Kurien, is also a member.

“Be it Jairam Ramesh or anyone else, all ideas can be discussed here for better utilisation of time. Naidu doesn’t reject ideas but he also can’t take a call on these matters,” said a senior officer in Naidu’s office.

In April, the Rajya Sabha chairman dubbed disruptions in the House during the second half of the budget session a “sad commentary” on the functioning of India’s parliamentary democracy and said matters of public