Kerala nun rape case: Bishop Mulakkal writes to Pope Francis, offers to step down for now

Franco Mulakkal, the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar, who is accused of raping a nun, wrote a letter to Pope Francis on Sunday expressing his desire to step aside temporarily.

“I request you to relieve me from the administration of the Diocese in the background of the court’s opinion,” Bishop Mulakkal stated in his letter.

In June, a 43-year-old nun, also a mother superior, had complained to the police that Mullakkal had raped her 13 times between 2014 and 2016. The nun is a member of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation based in Punjab which runs two convents in Kerala.

The Missionaries of Jesus nuns have been protesting past several days in Kochi demanding the arrest of the Bishop. From a small protest by five nuns, it has virtually grown into a movement over the past week with nuns and priests from various churches joining in.

Father Peter, Bishop’s official spokesperson said the evidence against Bishop Mulakkal was inadequate .

“Bishop decided on his own to make his request to Holy Father, so that the truth may be established. He (Bishop) is confident that his request will be accepted by Vatican,” he said.

The development came a day after Bishop has appointed vicar general Mathew Kokkandam to administer the Diocese as is the normal practice.

On Friday, Bishop received official summons served by the Jalandhar police on behalf of Vaikom (Kerala) deputy superintendent of police (DSP) K Subhash, who is heading the investigation in the case.

The Jalandhar commissioner of police (CP) Praveen Sinha received the summons from the Kerala police to serve them to the Bishop, asking him to appear before them for the investigation on September 19.

First Published: Sep 17, 2018 10:39 IST