The Kerala High Court on Tuesday adjourned to September 25 the hearing on an anticipatory bail petition filed by Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakkal in a case charging him with raping a nun.
When the petition came up for hearing, Director General of Prosecution Manjeri Sreedharan Nair brought to the notice of the court that a few pending public interest litigations (PILs) for the arrest of the bishop would come up for further hearing on September 24.
Besides, he wanted to get instructions from the police in the case. Therefore, he sought to adjourn the hearing to September 25. Counsel for the bishop did not make any submission for any interim order and agreed to the hearing being adjourned to September 25.
The bishop, in his petition, said the allegations levelled by the nun were “wholly concocted and cooked up, only to wreak vengeance” for the action taken against her. She was removed from the post of Mother Superior and Kerala-in-charge on a complaint from her cousin and another nun. Therefore, she was inimical towards him as she was under the belief that he was the one who had taken action against her. The nun and her family members had warned him of dire consequences if he continued to take adverse actions against her.
The bishop added that he was falsely implicated in the case and the complaint of the nun was “nothing but a fictional story” to “bring down the applicant who is holding a very high post in the congregation”.
The case was registered by the Kuravilangad police in Kottayam district on a complaint by the nun, who belonged to the Missionaries of Jesus under the Jalandhar diocese.
She had alleged that she was raped by the bishop from May 5, 2014 to May 6, 2016 on 15 occasions in a room attached to the St Francis Mission Home, Kuruvilangad. The police had issued a notice to the bishop asking him to appear before the police for interrogation on September 19.
