Kerala nun challenges Bishop Franco Mulakkal's acquittal in rape case in High Court

Thiruvananthapuram: The survivor in the Kerala nun rape case has moved the Kerala High Court against Bishop Franco Mulakkal's acquittal in the case by a trial court, the News Minute reported.

The appeal was filed in the Kerala High Court on March 28 by a senior counsel.

Simultaneously, the Kerala government on Wednesday approved the move to file an appeal in the High Court against the court's verdict on the same.

A spokesman of the government said it was keen to file an appeal at the earliest, but was delayed due to pandemic conditions. "The prosecution has a strong case, but some of the evidence was overlooked by the trial court," he said.

In its appeal against the trial court's January 14, 2022 decision, the prosecution contended that the sessions judge, without appreciating the evidence from the correct perspective, "misconstrued facts and law and gave unwarranted acquittal to the accused" and set him free.

The prosecution, in its appeal filed through additional public prosecutor P Narayanan, has also claimed that the lower court's judgment was "patently wrong, manifestly erroneous and totally perverse".

In 2018, the nun from the Missionaries of Jesus congregation under the Jalandhar diocese had accused Bishop Franco of repeatedly raping her between 2014 and 2016 while he was head of the Missionaries of Jesus order. He denied the allegations.

The allegations were followed by unprecedented street protests by nuns, who demanded action by the church, police and the Kerala government.

On January 14, the Kottayam Additional district court judge G Gopakumar gave a clean chit to Franco in the rape case, despite the consistent stand of the complainant and the witnesses.

The court acquitted Franco Mulakkal, citing various reasons, including "the victim's inconsistent version of incidents and lack of corroborative evidence to prove the prosecution case."

Acquitting the bishop, the court order said, "in view of the inconsistent version of the victim, this court is of the view that she cannot be categorised as a sterling witness," thereby discrediting her.

A complaint was filed against him in June 2018 in Kerala and Mulakkal was arrested on September 21, 2018 on rape charges. He secured bail on October 16, 2018. Franco had approached the Kerala High Court and also the Supreme Court to quash the FIR against him, but both the courts did not do so.

The charge sheet in the case named 83 witnesses, including the Cardinal of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Mar George Alencherry, three bishops, 11 priests and 22 nuns. Of the 83 witnesses, 39 were called and they were heard.