Church sex scandal: ‘Bid’ to derail rape case

The Kerala Police have come under severe criticism for the delay in arresting Bishop Franco Mulakkal of the Latin Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar who is facing the charge of raping a senior nun amidst reports that the Catholic Church is putting pressure on the nun to withdraw the complaint she had lodged with the police against the Bishop.

“We believe that there is a bid to derail the case. We suspect high-level interference behind the delay (in arresting the Bishop),” the brother of the victim told the media within 24 hours of the nun herself expressing her anxiety over the delay from the part of the police in taking concrete action to the Chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW).

“The police officers probing the case are doing their job. But there are officers above them and the delay could be due to their interference. There has not been any effort even to question the Bishop. He has high-level political connections in Kerala as well as in Jalandhar. He may be using these connections to derail the case,” the nun’s brother told a television channel.

He said that they had taken their complaint to Cardinal Mar George Alencherry, head of Kerala-based Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, and that the nun had spoken to him in private for about 15 minutes.

“It is up to the Cardinal to disclose what she had told him. If he doesn’t do that in two-three days we will come out with more information,” he added.

The nun had told NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma on Saturday that she was worried about the delay in the arrest of the Bishop. After meeting the nun at her convent in Kuravilangad in Kottayam district, Sharma told newsmen that the victim was not getting any help or cooperation from the Church or her congregation, Missionaries of Jesus.

The police’s alleged reluctance to arrest the Bishop and the Church’s refusal to intervene in the issue in the nun’s favour have come under intense attack from cultural leaders as well. “The Cardinal is justifying the Bishop’s crime. Mar Alencherry doesn’t deserve to occupy the position of the head of the Church,” said writer Sarah Joseph.

As per the complaint the nun had lodged with the Kottayam district police chief on June 27, Bishop Mulakkal had raped her at the guest house attached to her convent in Kuravilangad 13 times between 2014 and 2016. She had reportedly repeated the charge against the Bishop in the statement she recorded before a court under Section 164 of the CrPC last week.

The Bishop had sexually abused her first on May 5, 2014 when he had stayed at the guest house on his visit to Kerala for attending a Church function. He allegedly subjected her to sexual abuse 12 times since then using threats, she said in her complaints. The nun had gone to the police with her complaint after her efforts to get justice from the Church itself failed.

She had approached the Church leadership at all levels starting with the Vicar of her parish, Kodanad to the Bishop of Pala diocese, Cardinal mar Alencherry and even the Vatican directly by e-mail and through its envoy in India but help came from nowhere, she said. Cardinal Alencherry had last week said the nun had not given any written complaint to him.

As per reports, the police have already verified the incidents and the places and the dates of their occurrence. They may get a copy of her statement in the court on Monday and they may decide to question the Bishop if what she had told them check with that. The Bishop could be summoned to Kerala for questioning, sources said.

Meanwhile, pressure is reportedly mounting on the nun for withdrawing her complaint against Bishop Mulakkal. A six-member team from her congregation in Jalandhar is said to be trying to influence her with the help of some priests from Thrissur. This team has also been meeting the nuns and priests who have been supporting the victim.