The survivor in the case had lodged a complaint with the Kottayam police chief on June 27, 2018 regarding sexual abuse from 2014-16.
The 44-year-old former Superior General of the petitioner Jesus’ missionaries, a congregation functioning under the Jalandhar Diocese in Punjab. Bishop Mulakkali He is the guardian of the congregation.
There were 39 prosecution witnesses and six defense witnesses in the case and the prosecution had submitted 122 documents while the defense had submitted 56 documents before the court. The court, through an order, had restrained the media from covering the closed-door proceedings of the trial.
in the charge sheet monastic The rape case was registered on April 9, 2019. The trial ended on December 29, 2021.
Declaring himself innocent, Bishop Mulakkal had approached the Kerala High Court and the Supreme Court to acquit him of the case, but the high courts asked him to face trial.
Police arrested the complainant on September 21, 2018, a fortnight after five nuns of the complainant staged a sit-in in Kochi. Bishop was jailed but released on bail on October 15, 2018.
Prior to his arrest, the Vatican removed him from the administrative roles of the diocese by appointing him as an apostate administrator.
A Special Investigation Team of Kerala Police investigated the allegations and filed a 2,000-page chargesheet against Bishop Mulakkal in April 2019.
Witnesses included Cardinal George Alenchery, head of the Syro-Malabar Church.
The Special Public Prosecutor in this case was Advocate Gitesh J Babu. The defense was represented by senior advocate B Raman Pillai and advocate CS Ajayan.
Watch Nun rape case: Kerala court acquits Bishop Franco Mulakkal
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