Kerala Nun rape case: HC admits appeal against acquittal of Bishop Franco Mulakkal

Almost a week after the nun moved the Kerala High Court against the Roman Catholic Church Bishop Franco Mulakkal's acquittal by a trial court, the appeal had been admitted by the Kerala HC on Tuesday. 

Further after admitting the appeal against the decision of the Additional District and Sessions Court, the court has also sent a notice to Bishop Franco Mulakkal in this regard. The appeal which was heard by a division bench of Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice C. Jayachandran noted the arguments presented by the prosecution as well as the state government that alleged that nun was indeed raped by the bishop between 2014 and 2016 and was further subjected to unnatural offence against the order of nature by the accused who wielded power at that time. 

Speaking on the Additional District and Session Court which had acquitted Mulakkal in the case last January, the prosecution in its series of arguments said that the trial court has not just overlooked the reluctance of the victim, but also discarded all the corroboratory evidence of other witnesses which could have led to the conviction of the accused. 

The prosecution further also went on to narrate the entire incident that took place between 2014 to 2016 during which the bishop abused his power and took advantage of the nun against her will and threatened her.  

Timeline of the Kerala Nun rape case

The incident dates back to 2018 when a nun of the Catholic Church had filed a complaint against Bishop Franco Mulakkal accusing him of raping her 13 times between 2014 and 2016 when he was bishop in the Missionaries of Jesus, Jalandhar diocese. Following this, a complaint was lodged on June 27, 2018, and he was arrested on September 21, 2018, on several charges under seven IPC sections including rape. The case trials then began in November 2019. 

After almost two years of trials, the accused got relieved after he was acquitted by the Additional District and Sessions Court, Kottayam this January. 

However, going against the trial court's decision, the prosecution in its appeal contended that the sessions judge without considering the evidence "misconstrued facts and law and gave unwarranted acquittal to the accused”. The appeal also claimed that the judgement was “patently wrong, manifestly erroneous and totally perverse”.

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