Syro-Malabar Church head Cardinal George Mar Alencherry was questioned by Kerala police in connection with a nun’s complaint against a bishop alleging sexual harassment.

On Wednesday (18 July), Vaikom police questioned Alencherry, who told the cops that the victim had never complained to him about Bishop Franco Mulakkal (pictured above) of Jalandhar Diocese.

Bishop Franco is expected to be questioned within the next two days. Kerala police will travel to Jalandhar, Punjab to interrogate him.

A police team, headed by Vaikom DySP visited the headquarters of the Syro-Malabar Church. Alencherry, who had earlier told the media that the nun had not complained to him about the Bishop, stuck to the same statement with the police.

However, he acknowledged that the nun, who alleged sexual assault, had visited him. But the nun never gave any complaint against the Bishop.

Alencherry said that the nun spoke to him only about matters concerning her convent and he never disclosed it to anyone because it was confidential.

He also revealed that the nun does not belong to the Syro-Malabar Church, so he had directed her to report these problems to her convent church.

The nun, in her complaint to the police, had alleged that the Jalandhar Diocese bishop had sexually abused her in 2014. She alleged that he raped her 13 times between 2014 and 2016.

Meanwhile, the nun's statement claimed that she had filed a complaint with the cardinal when she visited him along with another fellow nun's father and another nun at the church headquarters.