JOIN USBishop Franco Mulakkal acquitted in Kerala nun rape case
Bishop of Jalandhar Franco Mulakkal was acquitted in a rape case against him by a court in Kottayam district of Kerala on Friday.
A nun of a convent at Kuravilangad in Kottayam district alleged that Mulakkal sexually assaulted her 13 times between 2014 and 2016 at the convent.
The Kottayam additional sessions court acquitted Mulakkal in the case.
Mulakkal who was present in the court room hugged his lawyers emotionally. Mulakkal's supporters distributed sweets near the court premises, saying that they were certain that he would be acquitted as he was innocent. It was a cooked-up case and there was no evidence, they said.
The nun made the complaint in 2018. The police initiated a probe into the nun's petition after a group of nuns staged a demonstration that received a lot of attention.
Mulakkal was arrested on Sept. 21, 2018, and was later released on bail. He was charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for rape, unnatural sex, illegal detention and criminal intimidation. The Supreme Court then rejected Mulakkal's discharge petition.
Superintendent of Police S Harishankar, who led the investigations in the case, said that the investigative team was expecting a conviction. There was sufficient evidence against the accused and none of the witnesses had turned hostile, Harishankar said. An appeal will be filed against the order, he said.
Mulakkal had been kept away from his responsibilities as a bishop after his arrest.
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