Probe slows down in Kerala nun rape case

The Kerala Police’s investigation in the case pertaining to the rape of a senior nun allegedly by Bishop Franco Mulakkal of the Latin Catholic Church’s Jalandhar Diocese has slowed down for all practical purposes.

Though the probe team’s initial plan was to visit Jalandhar this week to question Bishop Mulakkal and arrest him if needed after recording the statement of Cardinal Mar George Alencherry, head of the Kerala-based Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, with whom the rape victim had lodged a complaint against the Bishop.

The slowdown in the probe has sparked off allegations to the effect that there is a bid to delay the arrest of the Bishop as far as possible due to interference from political authorities who are close to the Church leadership. Also, Bishop Mulakkal himself is known as a person with close connections with top politicians in Kerala, Punjab and Delhi.

Though the investigators had questioned the Cardinal on Wednesday and have recorded the statements of the victim and many important witnesses, they are unlikely to travel to Jalandhar soon. According to sources, they will travel to Jalandhar only after ensuring the completion of the entire investigation to be held in Kerala.

Reports on Friday said that the probe team might visit Jalandhar on Monday and question Bishop Mulakkal on the same day. It is also said that the investigators have informed the Bishop about this.

However, there has been no confirmation on this from the side of the police. “The probe is progressing. Everything will be done in due course,” said a police official.

The police now claim that another round of questioning of the victim and some of the nuns whose statements have already been recorded is needed as there are contradictions in their statements. Also, they have to meet some more nuns who are said to have left the Missionaries of Jesus Congregation to which the victim belongs following differences with the Bishop Mulakkal.

The investigators may opt to question the Cardinal once again following the appearance in the media of an audio clip of a phone conversation between him and the victim which showed that she had informed him about the sexual abuse she allegedly suffered in the hands of the Bishop contrary to his claim that she had not given him any complaint on the rape.

In his statements to the police on Wednesday and to the media a few days ago, Mar Alencherry had admitted that the nun had met him but he claimed that she had not spoken about the rape incident. However, the content of the audio clip clearly showed that she had indeed lodged a complaint with him against the Bishop.

The police team is also of the view that no conclusion could be drawn about the case in haste as it involved incidents that had allegedly taken place since more than four years ago. “There are so many things to be looked into. There is no room for assumptions. The police can proceed only on the basis of facts. It will be dangerous to be hasty in the probe,” said a top police official.

In her statements to the police and before a Magistrate, the nun, now 48, had said that Bishop Mulakkal had sexually abused her using threats 13 times between 2014 and 2016. According to her, the Bishop had first raped her on May 5, 2014 at a guest house affiliated to her convent in Kuravilangad in Kottayam district during his visit to Kerala for attending a Church function.

She had approached the police last month after all her efforts to get justice from the Church leadership had failed. She had taken her complaint first to the Parish Vicar of Kuravilangad, and then to the Bishop of Pala and later to the Cardinal on his advice. She had also petitioned The Vatican and its envoy in India through e-mail, according to her.