Chargesheet to be filed today

Kottayam: The chargehseet against bishop Franco Mulakkal in the nun rape case will be filed before the judicial first class magistrate court in Pala here on Tuesday afternoon. It will go down in the annals of history as rarest of rare incident where a bishop will be tried in a court based on the complaint of a nun who is a subordinate to him. This is also the first such case in India.
The detailed chargesheet with statements and documents runs into over 2,000 pages in five volumes. There are a total number of 83 witnesses in the case, including cardinal George Alencherry, bishop Joseph Kallarangatt of Pala diocese, Bhagalpur bishop Kurian Valiyakandathil and bishop Sebastian Vadakkel of the diocese of Ujjain. Twenty-five nuns and 11 priests are also witnesses.

The statements of 10 most crucial witnesses were recorded by magistrates. Seven of the magistrates will also be witnesses. Along with the chargesheet, 101 documents will be submitted before court. Mulakkal faces charges under sections 342, 376(2)(K), 376(2)(N), 376 (c)(a), 377, 506(1) of Indian Penal Code. If proved guilty, he would be awarded life imprisonment or a minimum imprisonment of not less than ten years.

To prevent witnesses turning hostile, their statements were video recorded. Unlike the usual procedure, a detailed reference of all evidence against the accused will besubmitted in a report along with the chargesheet. Adv Jithesh J Babu is the special prosecutor in the case and Kottayam SP Harisankar monitored the probe under Vaikom DSP K Subhash.

The bishop was arrested on September 21 last year following protests by a group of nuns and Catholic reformist outfits demanding action against him. Ahead of his interrogation in Kerala, the Vatican had relieved him temporarily of all pastoral responsibilities.

The nun had accused the clergyman of repeatedly raping and having unnatural sex with her between 2014 and 2016. The nun had said she approached police as church authorities failed to act on her repeated plaints.