Kerala police have charged Franco Mulakkal on five counts, including rape and unnatural sex. The investigating agency submitted a 200-page charge sheet to the court in connection with the 9-month preliminary inquiry.
Pala: Kerala Police have filed a charge sheet against former Bishop Franco Mulakkal in the case of raping a nun. The case was filed by Vaikom deputy superintendent of police K Subhash in the Pala Magistrate Court.
Mulakkal faces five charges, including rape and unnatural sex. The investigating agency submitted a 200-page charge sheet to the court in connection with the 9-month preliminary inquiry.
There are 83 witnesses in the case including the cardinal George Alanchery and four other bishops. The charge sheet also contains statements of three bishops, 11 priests and 25 nuns.
Statements of the 10 main testifiers have also been recorded to ensure that they do not change their statement. Seven magistrates who recorded this statement also bore witness to it.
The recorded statements have been included in the charge sheet created by special prosecutor Jithesh J Babu, and SP Harishankar.
Deputy superintendent of police K Subhash arrested Mulakkal on September 21. The arrest came after a group of nuns protested against the delay in arresting him. The bishop who was released on bail 25 days later is now in Jalandhar.
Five nuns from a convent in Kottayam Kuravilangadu seminary staged a protest on September 8, 2018, in front of the Kochi high court against Mulakkal, who was accused of raping a nun on multiple occasions between 2014 and 2016. This might be the first incident in the history of churches where nuns have held a public protest.
Meanwhile, on January 16, four out of the five nuns, who staged a protest on September 8 in front of Kochi high court against Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal, received transfer orders.
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