Kerala Court not to intervene in police probe against bishop

The Kerala High court yesterday refused to intervene in the ongoing investigation against a bishop charged with raping a senior nun.

The police had booked Franco Mulakkal, the bishop of Jalandhar, Punjab, who heads the Missionaries of Jesus congregation, on a former superior general’s complaint.

The Kerala police had last month questioned Mulakkal at his house in Jalandhar for nine hours without arriving at any conclusion. They have now summoned him for further questioning on September 19, before the high court considers three petitions on September 24.

A division bench of the court headed by chief justice Hrishikesh Roy went through the materials the police had collected so far and also that the prosecution had submitted in a sealed cover.

It concluded that the investigation was progressing on the right track.

The nun accuses the prelate of raping her in 2014 at the congregation’s mission home in Kuravilangad town in Kottayam and repeating the crime 13 times over the next two years.

The nun claimed that she was forced to approach the police in June after the church authorities refused to heed her complaint.

The petitioners say the police are now soft-peddling the investigation.

The director general of prosecutions, Manjeri Sreedharan, told the court that a detailed investigation was going on spanning five states.

The police have recorded statements of both the parties involved and also several witnesses. They are now cross-checking the facts as many discrepancies have been found.

The Catholic Reformation Movement felt it was unusual that the police had not arrested the bishop even after 70 days of the complaint being filed. Its counsel said the nun suspected the police had compromised the investigation “as those facing rape charges should have been arrested immediately”.

However, the court felt immediate arrest was not possible in this case as the alleged offence happened some years ago.

Stating that “an arrest is a matter of discretion of the police,” the court refused to issue directions to the police as long as the investigation was continuing satisfactorily.

Meanwhile another petitioner complained that the church had been intimidating witnesses in the absence of a “witness protection scheme” in the state as directed by the Supreme Court.

The prosecution denied the allegation stating the state was protecting both the complainant and witnesses.

The court also rejected another petition seeking that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) take over the probe.

The court pointed out that the victim and witnesses could approach the court if they felt they had been treated unfairly or were being intimidated.

The nun, now confined to the mission home, was not among the petitioners.

The court had dismissed a petition on August 13 seeking the arrest of the bishop after holding that the investigation was proceeding on the right track.

Superintendent of police Hari Shankar said the delay in completing the investigation was natural given that the case was four years old. The bishop was cooperating with the investigation, Shankar added.

Meanwhile, a sit-in near the high court by five colleagues of the victim demanding justice for her entered its sixth day. Hundreds of people, including writers, activists and celebrities, have visited the venue of the protest to express their solidarity with the victim.