Rape-accused Bishop Franco puts up show of strength in court

Accompanied by as many as 12 Fathers and priests, rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal attempted to demonstrate a show of strength and confidence while he reached the court at Pala in Kerala on Friday.  

He reached the court after offering prayers at a church.

The court has extended till June 7 the bail of Franco Mulakkal. The Pala Magistrate Court extended the bail where Franco appeared in person. The court has posted the case for June 7.

Bishop Franco Mulakkal was arrested by the Kerala Police over allegations of raping and sexually assaulting a nun and is out on bail.

Mulakkal, former Bishop of Jalandhar diocese, is the first Roman Catholic clergy in India to be tried of rape on a complaint of a nun.

The nun, who belongs to Missionaries of Jesus congregation under Jalandhar diocese, had accused the 55-year-old clergyman of repeatedly raping and having unnatural sex with her between 2014 and 2016.

He allegedly committed the offence when he was the Bishop of the Jalandhar diocese.

He has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 376C (sexual intercourse by person in authority), Section 377 (unnatural sex) and 506(1) (criminal threat), official sources said.

In her complaint to police in June, the nun had alleged that Mulakkal raped her at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014 and later sexually exploited her on several occasions.

She said she had to approach police as the church authorities did not act on her repeated complaints against the clergyman.

Mulakkal, however, has claimed that he was “absolutely innocent” and “falsely implicated” with an “ulterior motive and vexatious intention”.

Mulakkal was arrested in September last amid mounting public outrage over allegations of repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting the nun.

He was released from a sub-jail in Pala on October 16 after the Kerala High Court granted him bail.