Nuns urge church to take action against Mulakkal under Canon law
›
We are happy another nun has come out to narrate her plight... It is time for the church to stand with the victim, not the perpetrator
SISTER ANUPAMA
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after the second complaint of sexual harassment against the deposed bishop of Jalandhar, Franco Mulakkal, surfaced, Kerala nuns fighting for justice for the first complainant asked church authorities not to shield him and take action against him under the Canon law.
The statement of one of the witnesses surfaced on Friday in which she said she had also undergone sexual harassment by Mulakkal. But the police did not file a separate case against him after the 36-year-old nun insisted that she was not willing to pursue the matter, said Kollam superintendent of police Harishankar.
“We are happy another nun has come out to narrate her plight. We want church authorities to take action against him under relevant Canon law. It is time for the church to stand with the victim, not the perpetrator,” said Sister Anupama, who led a month-long hunger strike for Mulakkal’s arrest in 2018.
Five nuns of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation had come out to support the nun who accused Mulakkal of rape.
The victim and five nuns have been confined to a convent in Kottayam and are leading a secluded life since they raised the complaint and led the campaign against Franco Mulakkal. They were not allowed to participate in religious services, and there have been attempts to transfer them to different locations.
“We want the church to support us and end our isolation and agony,” said Sister Anupama.
Sister Lucy Kalappura, another nun who was expelled from the congregation on grounds of “serious indiscipline,” said more nuns will come out to depose against the former bishop if police provide them protection.
“It is good nuns are coming out to narrate their sexual exploitations. They are not slaves. It is time for the church to check further decay and set things right,” she said. She had claimed she was expelled from the congregation for supporting the campaign against Mulakkal two years ago.
The case against Mulakkal surfaced in June 2018 after a 43-year-old nun complained to the police in Kottayam that Mulakkal had raped her several times between 2014 and 2016. The nun is a member of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation based in Punjab. But Mulakkal claimed he had been framed after he took action against her over “financial irregularities” in the convent. He was arrested in September 2018.
Meanwhile, the additional district court in Kottayam on Saturday heard the petition of Mulakkal to discharge him from the case. Mulakkal’s counsel B Raman Pillai questioned the selective leaking of the statement of one of the witnesses in the court. But the prosecution contended that pleas of Mullakal were aimed at delaying the trial.